Donald L. Hagan LLC Trims Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Donald L. Hagan LLC lessened its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,585 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 344 shares during the quarter. Donald L. Hagan LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,080,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $956,566,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 125,756.8% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,641,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $904,714,000 after purchasing an additional 10,632,735 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $477,765,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $451,711,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,474,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,917,159,000 after purchasing an additional 4,098,577 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on MS shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $91.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 price target (down previously from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $94.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total transaction of $584,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 97,634 shares in the company, valued at $8,158,297.04. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.93, for a total value of $4,396,500.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 400,000 shares in the company, valued at $35,172,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total transaction of $584,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 97,634 shares in the company, valued at $8,158,297.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 208,155 shares of company stock worth $18,149,314. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock traded up $0.66 on Friday, reaching $94.16. 6,707,703 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 10,017,350. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $69.42 and a 1-year high of $95.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $87.52 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.23. The firm has a market capitalization of $153.98 billion, a PE ratio of 18.21, a PEG ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 1.43.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.06. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 10.36%. The business had revenue of $12.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.77 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.31 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 30th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 65.76%.

Morgan Stanley Profile

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.