MetLife Investment Management LLC Has $33.94 Million Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

MetLife Investment Management LLC decreased its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 325,565 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,774 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $33,937,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 382.4% during the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,597,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $166,555,000 after purchasing an additional 1,266,600 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $87,558,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,404,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,335,495,000 after buying an additional 590,872 shares during the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at $43,850,000. Finally, Rokos Capital Management LLP bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter valued at about $41,208,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total value of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. This represents a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on MS. UBS Group lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $115.63.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS opened at $131.56 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $211.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s fifty day moving average is $117.46 and its 200-day moving average is $105.78. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $76.33 and a 52-week high of $136.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 56.32%.

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.