Retirement Systems of Alabama Trims Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Retirement Systems of Alabama trimmed its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 937,020 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 67,932 shares during the quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama owned approximately 0.06% of Morgan Stanley worth $97,675,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MS. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at $730,000. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 20.5% during the third quarter. Inspire Trust Co. N.A. now owns 35,300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,680,000 after buying an additional 6,000 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position 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 worth $881,493,000 after buying an additional 3,369,520 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 9.2% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 59,758 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,229,000 after buying an additional 5,024 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 85,446 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,907,000 after acquiring an additional 5,135 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on MS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $121.80.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:MS opened at $128.27 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $206.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The company has a fifty day moving average of $123.87 and a 200 day moving average of $108.19. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $83.09 and a 52 week high of $136.24.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. On average, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.88%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.32%.

About Morgan Stanley

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.