Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Stake Boosted by Commonwealth Equity Services LLC

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 7.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 434,331 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 30,808 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $37,092,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Legacy Capital Group California Inc. now owns 5,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $501,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. AXS Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. AXS Investments LLC now owns 3,680 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $314,000 after buying an additional 234 shares in the last quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 26.0% in the second quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. now owns 3,499 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $299,000 after buying an additional 722 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 4.7% during the second quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 294,786 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,175,000 after acquiring an additional 13,355 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 391.0% in the second quarter. Cary Street Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 16,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,432,000 after acquiring an additional 13,355 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 83.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently commented on MS shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, October 20th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 19th. Atlantic Securities boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $85.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 1st. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 19th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $90.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, September 25th. Eight 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.71.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE MS opened at $80.28 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $78.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.48. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $69.42 and a 52-week high of $100.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70, a current ratio of 0.76 and a quick ratio of 0.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $131.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.40.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released 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 return on equity of 10.70% and a net margin of 10.86%. The business had revenue of $13.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.22 billion. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.53 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 5.58 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 60.93%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 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.