Russell Investments Group Ltd. Purchases 65,801 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Russell Investments Group Ltd. raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,034,077 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 65,801 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned 0.06% of Morgan Stanley worth $88,290,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 46.9% during the first quarter. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management now owns 9,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $867,000 after buying an additional 3,150 shares during the last quarter. Aureus Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Aureus Asset Management LLC now owns 57,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,068,000 after purchasing an additional 2,651 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.9% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 42,813 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,656,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares in the last quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 19.2% during the second quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $266,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the period. Finally, Veritable L.P. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the second quarter. Veritable L.P. now owns 41,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,527,000 after buying an additional 476 shares in the last quarter. 83.09% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. HSBC initiated coverage on Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, September 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $99.00 price objective for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, September 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 19th. Finally, Oppenheimer upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.71.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, major shareholder Stanley Morgan sold 135 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50,000.00, for a total transaction of $6,750,000.00. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.0 %

Shares of MS opened at $79.66 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $130.75 billion, a PE ratio of 14.28, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.40. The company’s fifty day moving average is $78.84 and its 200 day moving average is $83.55. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a current ratio of 0.76. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $69.42 and a fifty-two week high of $100.99.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.31 by $0.07. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.86% and a return on equity of 10.70%. The firm had revenue of $13.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.22 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.53 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 5.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 30th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.27%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.93%.

Morgan Stanley 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.