Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Decreases Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lessened its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 26.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 493,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 174,425 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $62,027,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ethic Inc. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 35.8% in the 4th quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 162,269 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,400,000 after buying an additional 42,743 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.9% in the 4th quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 499,554 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $62,804,000 after buying an additional 14,283 shares during the period. Pamalican Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $4,513,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $5,686,000. Finally, NatWest Group plc purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $8,052,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total value of $1,124,092.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 199,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $22,248,942.10. This represents a 4.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $4,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 335,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,291,800. The trade was a 10.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS opened at $126.15 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $90.94 and a 1-year high of $142.03. The stock has a market cap of $202.38 billion, a PE ratio of 15.89, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $116.76 and a 200 day moving average price of $125.47.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.02 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.43%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI decreased 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 report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.46.

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.