D L Carlson Investment Group Inc. Decreases Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

D L Carlson Investment Group Inc. cut its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 22,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 331 shares during the quarter. D L Carlson Investment Group Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,823,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,845,895,000 after buying an additional 696,646 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,240,729 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,621,140,000 after purchasing an additional 269,633 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,833,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,870,683,000 after purchasing an additional 428,956 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,910,200,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 11,019,694 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,385,396,000 after buying an additional 47,699 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Citigroup cut their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $124.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 25th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.53.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $115.23 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $85.01 and a fifty-two week high of $142.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $185.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $129.61 and its 200-day simple moving average is $123.97.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.60%.

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.