Natixis Advisors LLC Has $149.33 Million Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,187,784 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 34,847 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Morgan Stanley worth $149,328,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MS. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,159,000 after buying an additional 36,120 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at about $513,000. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 15.3% in the third quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc now owns 5,313 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $554,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 38.6% in the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 437,036 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $45,557,000 after purchasing an additional 121,788 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 115.1% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % 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.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on MS. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Barclays upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 3.3 %

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $115.41 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $85.01 and a 12 month high of $142.03. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $131.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $122.23. The stock has a market cap of $186.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given 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 yield of 3.21%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

Morgan Stanley 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.