Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Bought by Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.

Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 18.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 370 shares during the quarter. Asahi Life Asset Management CO. LTD.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $304,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MS. Financial Advocates Investment Management acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $274,000. Stephens Inc. AR increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter. Stephens Inc. AR now owns 31,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,320,000 after acquiring an additional 1,972 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 7.9% during the 3rd quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 6,935 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $723,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. Optas LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. Optas LLC now owns 2,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $299,000 after purchasing an additional 568 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Conning Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 375,659 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,159,000 after purchasing an additional 10,361 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $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. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $133.11 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $214.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $132.99 and a 200-day moving average of $121.37. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $84.43 and a 52 week high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

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.