Madison Asset Management LLC Has $17.95 Million Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Madison Asset Management LLC reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 17.9% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 101,108 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 22,085 shares during the quarter. Madison Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $17,950,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,607,000 after buying an additional 1,185 shares in the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 69.0% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 8,964 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,263,000 after buying an additional 3,661 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 90.9% in the second quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,378,000 after acquiring an additional 7,688 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 6.3% in the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 263,575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,127,000 after acquiring an additional 15,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 7.8% in the second quarter. Jupiter Wealth Management LLC now owns 52,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,805,000 after acquiring an additional 3,807 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total value of $2,120,758.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on MS. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Citizens Jmp restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Dbs Bank lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.26.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $191.83 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $302.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $173.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $174.32. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $123.88 and a 12-month high of $194.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The business’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.60 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.23%.

Trending Headlines about Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Citi raised its Morgan Stanley price target to $194, reinforcing expectations for further upside. Citi Raises Morgan Stanley (MS) Price Target Following Coverage Transfer
• Positive Sentiment: Investors continue to search Morgan Stanley heavily, suggesting the name is attracting attention heading into the next catalyst cycle. Investors Heavily Search Morgan Stanley (MS): Here is What You Need to Know
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s Bitcoin ETF reportedly pulled in about $193.6 million in its first month with no net outflows, which supports the firm’s growing wealth/asset-management narrative. Morgan Stanley’s MSBT Bitcoin ETF Sees Zero Outflows in First Month

About Morgan Stanley

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.