Retirement Systems of Alabama Has $98.01 Million Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Retirement Systems of Alabama raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 9.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,051,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 87,047 shares during the period. Retirement Systems of Alabama’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $98,009,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. CGC Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5,200.0% in the fourth quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 77.3% in the third quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 143 shares in the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 123.2% in the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 220.6% in the third quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 311 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MS shares. HSBC raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 19th. Cfra raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.92, for a total value of $879,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 313,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,562,040.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total transaction of $393,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 93,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,140,842.94. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.92, for a total transaction of $879,200.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 313,490 shares in the company, valued at $27,562,040.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 252,355 shares of company stock worth $22,356,602. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of NYSE:MS traded up $0.27 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $92.83. 4,606,109 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,720,944. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $69.42 and a fifty-two week high of $95.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.44. The firm has a market cap of $151.00 billion, a PE ratio of 16.91, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.43.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.42 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.70 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

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. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.66%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 61.93%.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.