abrdn plc Increases Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

abrdn plc raised its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 24.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,385,130 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 275,183 shares during the period. abrdn plc owned 0.08% of Morgan Stanley worth $129,163,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MS. CGC Financial Services LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5,200.0% in the 4th 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 during the last quarter. RVW Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at $27,000. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 77.3% in the 3rd quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 810.8% in the 3rd quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. HSBC increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Cfra increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price target (down previously from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total transaction of $9,021,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 414,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total transaction of $9,021,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 414,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the firm’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 owns 93,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,140,842.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 302,355 shares of company stock worth $26,753,102. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MS traded up $0.40 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $90.66. The company had a trading volume of 8,143,003 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,380,509. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $69.42 and a twelve month high of $95.57. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $88.92 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.92. The firm has a market capitalization of $147.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 1.43.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The firm had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.70 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.75%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.