Franklin Resources Inc. Sells 132,339 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Franklin Resources Inc. trimmed its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 7,718,509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 132,339 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $970,371,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 38.1% during the 4th quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 192,029 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,120,000 after purchasing an additional 52,951 shares during the period. Hoey Investments Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 57.4% in the fourth quarter. Hoey Investments Inc. now owns 30,961 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,892,000 after buying an additional 11,292 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,889,322 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $363,246,000 after buying an additional 47,221 shares during the period. Axiom Investors LLC DE bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $195,742,000. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 300,015 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $38,360,000 after acquiring an additional 11,710 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $115.23 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $185.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $85.01 and a 12-month high of $142.03. The business’s 50 day moving average is $129.61 and its two-hundred day moving average is $123.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MS shares. Barclays lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Erste Group Bank cut Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $142.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 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.