Truvestments Capital LLC Purchases Shares of 561 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Truvestments Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 561 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $48,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Empirical Financial Services LLC d.b.a. Empirical Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of 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 grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.8% during the first quarter. Aureus Asset Management LLC now owns 57,717 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,068,000 after buying an additional 2,651 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 395 shares during the last quarter. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC boosted 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 worth $266,000 after purchasing an additional 503 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Veritable L.P. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the second quarter. Veritable L.P. now owns 41,301 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,527,000 after purchasing an additional 476 shares during the last quarter. 83.09% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com assumed coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, October 5th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock. UBS Group cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $110.00 to $84.00 in a report on Tuesday, October 10th. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $90.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, September 25th. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $103.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 20th. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $94.71.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $80.32 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $69.42 and a 52-week high of $100.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $131.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a fifty day moving average of $78.75 and a 200-day moving average of $83.50. 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 (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.38 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $13.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.22 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.53 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 5.58 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 was Monday, October 30th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.23%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 60.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, major shareholder Stanley Morgan sold 135 shares of the 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.