State of Alaska Department of Revenue Reduces Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

State of Alaska Department of Revenue lowered its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 141,494 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,168 shares during the period. State of Alaska Department of Revenue’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $17,788,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Adero Partners LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $245,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $488,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.3% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 28,453 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,577,000 after purchasing an additional 910 shares during the last quarter. Brandywine Oak Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Brandywine Oak Private Wealth LLC now owns 2,707 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $340,000 after buying an additional 81 shares during the period. Finally, Trilogy Capital Inc. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 367.7% in the 4th quarter. Trilogy Capital Inc. now owns 20,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,571,000 after buying an additional 16,079 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MS shares. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, HSBC cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

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

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS stock opened at $138.97 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $223.89 billion, a PE ratio of 17.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.37. 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 stock’s 50 day moving average is $130.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $116.67. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $83.09 and a 52-week high of $141.48.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.52 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.60%.

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.