Aviance Capital Partners LLC Makes New $212,000 Investment in Morgan Stanley $MS

Aviance Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 1,507 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.1% in the second quarter. Kesler Norman & Wride LLC now owns 12,669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,785,000 after acquiring an additional 497 shares during the period. Balentine LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at about $212,000. Syverson Strege & Co purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at about $266,000. AlphaStar Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at about $746,000. Finally, Linscomb Wealth Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the second quarter. Linscomb Wealth Inc. now owns 44,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,308,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $176.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total transaction of $16,434,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 574,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $94,493,199.24. The trade was a 14.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.7%

NYSE:MS opened at $164.17 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $94.33 and a one year high of $167.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $156.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $262.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.84, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.32.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Morgan Stanley’s 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.