Baker Avenue Asset Management LP Grows Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Baker Avenue Asset Management LP grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 10.5% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 309 shares during the period. Baker Avenue Asset Management LP’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $340,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MS. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,159,000 after buying an additional 36,120 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth $2,660,000. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 17.8% during the second quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $561,000 after buying an additional 871 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 115.0% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 223,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,305,000 after buying an additional 119,633 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth $87,558,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on MS shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. HSBC raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.24.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total value 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. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 3.1 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $133.52 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $74.55 and a 52-week high of $133.99. The company has a 50 day moving average of $109.23 and a 200 day moving average of $102.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The company has a market capitalization of $215.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.34.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. As a group, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.