Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. Purchases Shares of 1,200 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Mizuho Securities Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $112,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. M&R Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,020 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $188,000 after acquiring an additional 126 shares during the last quarter. Summit Global Investments boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.0% in the third quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 2,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $220,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Corton Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the third quarter. Corton Capital Inc. now owns 6,629 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $541,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. Excalibur Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.0% in the third quarter. Excalibur Management Corp now owns 13,516 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,104,000 after buying an additional 138 shares during the period. Finally, Hartford Financial Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on MS. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, April 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $91.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.07.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.9 %

MS traded up $1.73 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $93.82. 6,392,547 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 8,852,011. The company has a market cap of $152.61 billion, a PE ratio of 17.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.43. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.22 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $69.42 and a one year high of $95.57.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 61.93%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total value of $9,021,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 414,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $37,425,422.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total value of $1,009,008.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 126,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,368,457.10. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 302,355 shares of company stock valued at $26,753,102 over the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.