Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Bought by Choreo LLC

Choreo LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 7.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 51,155 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,435 shares during the quarter. Choreo LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $7,206,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 111.0% during the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 645.8% during the 2nd quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 50.0% during the first quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Abound Wealth Management raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 58.5% in the second quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MS. Wolfe Research raised Morgan Stanley from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $198.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets initiated coverage on Morgan Stanley in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $180.00 target price for the company. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $176.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $173.38.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 574,986 shares in the company, valued at approximately $94,493,199.24. This represents a 14.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS stock opened at $168.15 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $267.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.25, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.33. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $94.33 and a twelve month high of $171.77. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $147.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results 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 net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.55%. The business had revenue of $17.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

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

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.