Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. Cuts Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. reduced its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 7.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 390,107 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 31,333 shares during the quarter. Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $62,155,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 97.4% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 22,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,644,000 after purchasing an additional 11,311 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 581,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $92,407,000 after purchasing an additional 21,458 shares during the period. Calamos Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 12.0% during the third quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 87,236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,867,000 after buying an additional 9,345 shares in the last quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 45.3% during the third quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 30,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,905,000 after buying an additional 9,619 shares during the period. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 8.2% in the second quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 6,252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $881,000 after buying an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 21,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $3,966,120.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 171,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,464,920. The trade was a 11.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 30,330 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.62, for a total transaction of $5,569,194.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 280,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,501,921.22. This represents a 9.76% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders sold 196,223 shares of company stock valued at $34,150,220. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $202.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on Morgan Stanley in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $180.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $177.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $207.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $185.93.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE MS opened at $179.02 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $176.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $161.04. The company has a market cap of $284.52 billion, a PE ratio of 17.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.20. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $94.33 and a 1-year high of $192.68.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.69 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.92% and a net margin of 14.09%.The firm’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.22 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be given a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 39.18%.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

Here are the key news stories impacting Morgan Stanley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley was named one of the lead banks on the highly visible SpaceX IPO, which should generate sizable investment?banking fees and boost confidence in MS’s deal pipeline. Elon Musk’s SpaceX lines up 4 banks for blockbuster IPO
• Positive Sentiment: Q4 fundamentals remain supportive — MS recently beat on EPS and revenue, announced a $1.00 quarterly dividend (ex?div Jan 30), and has strong ROE metrics cited by analysts; those fundamentals underpin longer?term investor support. Morgan Stanley stock page / Q4 results & dividend
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley Wealth Management staff publicly urged clients not to panic?sell, messaging designed to stabilize flows and sentiment among retail/wealth clients. That communication can help limit outflows and calm short?term volatility. ‘Don’t Get Off the Rodeo Bull’: Morgan Stanley Warns Investors Not to Panic Sell
• Neutral Sentiment: Research action from MS — the firm cut Oracle’s target ~30% citing AI infra concerns. This is a research call on a large tech name (shows MS positioning/opinion) but is not a direct company fundamental change for MS itself. Oracle target cut by Morgan Stanley
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple senior Morgan Stanley insiders filed Form 4s this week (large sales by executives including Michael Pizzi, Andrew Saperstein, Eric Grossman, Sharon Yeshaya and others). Concentrated insider selling can add short?term supply and raise investor caution. Insider sale SEC filing (example)

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1935 by Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley, the company provides a broad range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individual investors. Leadership has been guided by a senior executive team and board of directors; James P. Gorman has served as the company’s chief executive and chairman in recent years.

The firm’s primary business activities are organized around three principal businesses: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management.