Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Sells 19,579 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lessened its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 19.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 79,691 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 19,579 shares during the quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $7,431,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MS. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during 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 buying an additional 4,098,577 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.3% during the third quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 13,159,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,074,718,000 after purchasing an additional 415,531 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.2% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,107,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,070,528,000 after purchasing an additional 277,909 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $956,566,000. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 125,756.8% in the fourth 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 period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MS. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Cfra lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price target (down from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $96.13.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $90.08 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.53 billion, a PE ratio of 17.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $69.42 and a 12 month high of $95.57. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $88.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.81.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 10.36%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.70 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 6.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 65.76%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total value of $393,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 93,134 shares in the company, valued at $8,140,842.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total transaction of $393,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 93,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,140,842.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.13, for a total transaction of $841,300.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 323,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,215,213.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 201,155 shares of company stock worth $17,564,394 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.