New Mexico Educational Retirement Board Boosts Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

New Mexico Educational Retirement Board raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 21.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 82,410 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,600 shares during the quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $7,203,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Institute for Wealth Management LLC. now owns 17,578 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,639,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares in the last quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC now owns 373,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,846,000 after purchasing an additional 27,845 shares in the last quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.9% during the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,274,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $118,857,000 after purchasing an additional 48,812 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 6,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $615,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE MS traded up $1.42 during trading on Friday, reaching $97.19. The company had a trading volume of 9,058,849 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,320,035. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $69.42 and a 12-month high of $103.25. The stock has a market cap of $157.95 billion, a PE ratio of 17.70, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.38. The business’s 50-day moving average is $96.61 and its 200 day moving average is $91.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 9.57%. The firm had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.70 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 6.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 61.93%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total transaction of $1,009,008.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 126,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,368,457.10. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.61, for a total value of $692,687.94. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 46,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,609,353.14. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total value of $1,009,008.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 126,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,368,457.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 118,154 shares of company stock valued at $10,722,696 over the last ninety days. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on MS shares. Cfra boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. TheStreet upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.30.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

Morgan Stanley, a financial holding company, provides various financial products and services to corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. It operates through Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management segments.