Wellington Management Group LLP Sells 10,275,782 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Wellington Management Group LLP trimmed its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 33.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 20,895,984 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 10,275,782 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,627,043,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MS. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,159,000 after acquiring an additional 36,120 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 122,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $12,811,000 after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the last quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 12.8% during the 3rd quarter. L.M. Kohn & Company now owns 3,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $315,000 after purchasing an additional 344 shares during the last quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth about $3,505,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter worth about $46,067,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI upped 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. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 3.2 %

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $115.23 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The firm has a market cap 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. The business has a fifty day moving average of $129.61 and a two-hundred day moving average of $123.97. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $85.01 and a twelve month high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm 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 firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

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.