Achmea Investment Management B.V. Grows Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Achmea Investment Management B.V. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 14.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 166,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 20,515 shares during the quarter. Achmea Investment Management B.V.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $23,403,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,740,149,000 after buying an additional 7,636,547 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,990,030,000 after purchasing an additional 2,989,122 shares during the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at $343,236,000. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 99.9% during the 1st quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 3,111,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $363,075,000 after purchasing an additional 1,555,015 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Citigroup raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Zacks Research upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.23.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $165.20 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $263.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $157.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $142.44. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.33 and a 52 week high of $167.13.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $18.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.55% and a net margin of 13.85%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total transaction of $16,434,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 574,986 shares in the company, valued at approximately $94,493,199.24. This trade represents a 14.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

About Morgan Stanley

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.