Covington Capital Management Acquires 1,073 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Covington Capital Management boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Rating) by 33.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,269 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,073 shares during the period. Covington Capital Management’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $337,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 68.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 18,416,436 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,455,083,000 after acquiring an additional 7,514,505 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 17.8% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 10,389,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $790,232,000 after buying an additional 1,566,606 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 9,955,509 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $757,219,000 after buying an additional 166,221 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 7,074,398 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $618,303,000 after buying an additional 67,791 shares during the period. Finally, UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter. UBS Asset Management Americas Inc. now owns 6,163,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $468,806,000 after buying an additional 539,483 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.48% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Alistair Darling sold 2,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.70, for a total transaction of $189,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 34,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,263,835.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, Director Alistair Darling sold 2,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $94.70, for a total transaction of $189,400.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 34,465 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,263,835.50. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 24,556 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $98.23, for a total value of $2,412,135.88. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 190,440 shares in the company, valued at $18,706,921.20. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 341,699 shares of company stock valued at $33,143,046. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on MS shares. Wolfe Research cut Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $92.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 4th. Citigroup cut Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, January 18th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $90.00 in a research report on Wednesday, January 18th. Odeon Capital Group upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $88.75 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, January 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.28.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $89.97 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $95.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $151.32 billion, a PE ratio of 14.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $72.05 and a twelve month high of $100.99.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.06. The business had revenue of $12.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.16 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.06% and a net margin of 16.73%. On average, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.21 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.775 per share. This represents a $3.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 50.49%.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

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Morgan Stanley operates as a global financial services company. The firm provides investment banking products and services to its clients and customers including corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. It operates through the following segments: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management.