Cohen & Steers Inc. Buys 152 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,005 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 152 shares during the quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $378,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MS. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,159,000 after purchasing an additional 36,120 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 4,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $461,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the period. Sculati Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.9% during the third quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC now owns 35,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,650,000 after acquiring an additional 655 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 45.0% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,570,000 after acquiring an additional 4,674 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 474.3% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,203,000 after purchasing an additional 17,454 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.00.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade 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 Stock Up 1.2 %

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $110.43 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $121.31 and a 200-day moving average price of $124.36. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $88.00 and a 1-year high of $142.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $178.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.91, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. The business had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.02 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 43.43%.

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.