Geode Capital Management LLC Increases Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 25,844,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 604,024 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned approximately 1.60% of Morgan Stanley worth $3,240,089,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,845,895,000 after purchasing an additional 696,646 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,833,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,870,683,000 after acquiring an additional 428,956 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,910,200,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,019,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,385,396,000 after acquiring an additional 47,699 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 75.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $881,493,000 after purchasing an additional 3,369,520 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on MS. Citigroup decreased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, March 24th. UBS Group raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $142.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.53.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $116.85 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $188.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.72, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $85.01 and a 1-year high of $142.03. The business’s 50 day moving average is $129.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.