Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. Has $17.83 Million Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 44.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 100,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 81,000 shares during the quarter. Diamond Hill Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $17,828,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,253,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,940 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2,332.9% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,406,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $249,710,000 after purchasing an additional 1,348,683 shares during the period. Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $170,037,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 40.2% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,933,604 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $466,326,000 after purchasing an additional 841,263 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,260,650 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,267,847,000 after purchasing an additional 822,120 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $171.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Evercore boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Daiwa Securities Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $173.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.95.

Key Morgan Stanley News

Here are the key news stories impacting Morgan Stanley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Seeking Alpha flagged that Morgan Stanley was upgraded to Buy after its strong first-quarter results, reinforcing the view that recent earnings momentum is still supporting the stock. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage also noted that Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) ahead of the GTA VI release, underscoring continued active equity-research influence and a generally constructive tone from the bank’s analysts. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s own recent stock commentary said MS has delivered a strong one-year rally, with investors still debating valuation versus earnings power rather than reacting to any single new company-specific surprise. Article Title

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE:MS opened at $201.18 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $317.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.22, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $179.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $176.01. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $123.88 and a 12 month high of $203.09.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.60 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.23%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,209,159.78. The trade was a 15.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total transaction of $2,779,935.60. Following the sale, the insider owned 365,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,224,370.48. This trade represents a 3.86% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1935 by Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley, the company provides a broad range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individual investors. Leadership has been guided by a senior executive team and board of directors; James P. Gorman has served as the company’s chief executive and chairman in recent years.

The firm’s primary business activities are organized around three principal businesses: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management.