Rakuten Securities Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 138.1% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $31,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.1% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,732,791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $284,866,000 after acquiring an additional 28,723 shares in the last quarter. OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $302,000. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $513,000. Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.1% during the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 31,656 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,300,000 after buying an additional 1,258 shares during the period. Finally, FDx Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter worth about $310,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $132.31 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $213.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $109.83 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $102.77. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $74.55 and a 12 month high of $133.99. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. The company had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.27 billion. Research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.80%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. HSBC raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Barclays upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.24.

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.