Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Acquired by Envestnet Asset Management Inc.

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,048,457 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 101,773 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. owned approximately 0.19% of Morgan Stanley worth $429,398,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,740,149,000 after acquiring an additional 7,636,547 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter worth about $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. lifted its stake in 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 worth $1,990,030,000 after acquiring an additional 2,989,122 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth about $343,236,000. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE lifted its stake in 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 worth $363,075,000 after acquiring an additional 1,555,015 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Barclays increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Zacks Research upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $176.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Three equities research 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, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.23.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 2.8%

MS opened at $163.78 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $94.33 and a one year high of $166.77. The company has a market cap of $261.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.80, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $154.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $139.33.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.73. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.55% and a net margin of 13.85%.The business had revenue of $18.22 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has approved a share repurchase plan on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

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

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.