Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc Boosts Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc grew its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 15.3% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,313 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 707 shares during the quarter. Pinnacle Financial Partners Inc’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $554,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MS. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 16.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 28,481,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,681,778,000 after purchasing an additional 3,981,528 shares in the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 600.8% in the first quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 1,301,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $122,581,000 after acquiring an additional 1,116,058 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at approximately $87,558,000. Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 433.4% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 779,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $73,392,000 after acquiring an additional 633,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $43,850,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently commented on MS shares. UBS Group upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, July 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.24.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $132.44 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $213.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.16, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $76.33 and a 12-month high of $134.91. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $111.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $103.26.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.32%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total value of $7,150,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. This represents a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.