Savant Capital LLC Purchases 2,756 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Savant Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 10.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,307 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,756 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,826,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Boston Partners acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter worth about $477,765,000. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,474,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,917,159,000 after acquiring an additional 4,098,577 shares during the period. J.P. Morgan Private Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $223,596,000. California Public Employees Retirement System increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 53.1% in the third quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 4,015,294 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $327,929,000 after purchasing an additional 1,393,065 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 229.0% during the 4th quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,215,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $113,369,000 after buying an additional 846,266 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Cfra upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $91.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.30.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total value of $9,021,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 414,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total value of $9,021,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 414,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total transaction of $1,009,008.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 126,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,368,457.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 237,855 shares of company stock worth $21,084,057 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of MS opened at $91.49 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $69.42 and a fifty-two week high of $95.57. The business has a 50-day moving average of $90.02 and a 200 day moving average of $85.72. The firm has a market cap of $148.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.87% and a net margin of 9.57%. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.70 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 6.78 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 61.93%.

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.