FSA Wealth Management LLC Takes Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

FSA Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $100,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% during the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth about $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on MS shares. Barclays upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $118.00.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. This represents a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.3 %

Shares of MS stock opened at $131.61 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $78.21 and a fifty-two week high of $136.24. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $119.29 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $106.42. The company has a market cap of $212.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.03, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.34.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. Research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.32%.

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.