Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Acquired by Garner Asset Management Corp

Garner Asset Management Corp grew its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 234 shares during the quarter. Garner Asset Management Corp’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,453,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,875,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,251,387,000 after purchasing an additional 303,654 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,597,493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,029,970,000 after purchasing an additional 212,551 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,834,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $858,573,000 after purchasing an additional 242,896 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,151,492 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $672,969,000 after purchasing an additional 57,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,159,000 after purchasing an additional 36,120 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. HSBC upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.94.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $134.69 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $76.33 and a 1 year high of $135.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $216.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.50, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.34. The company’s fifty day moving average is $116.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $105.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share 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 the consensus estimate of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. Analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.75%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 56.32%.

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.