Calamos Advisors LLC Buys 42,795 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Calamos Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 487,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 42,795 shares during the quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $68,709,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 4.9% in the second quarter. Police & Firemen s Retirement System of New Jersey now owns 175,529 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $24,725,000 after buying an additional 8,179 shares in the last quarter. ABC Arbitrage SA purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $4,514,000. Tobam bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $43,000. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 4.7% during the second quarter. Bouchey Financial Group Ltd now owns 2,268 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $319,000 after purchasing an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 92.2% in the second quarter. Central Asset Investments & Management Holdings HK Ltd now owns 5,230 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $737,000 after purchasing an additional 2,509 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total value of $16,434,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 574,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $94,493,199.24. This trade represents a 14.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $176.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Morgan Stanley in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $180.00 target price for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. 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 data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.23.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 2.0%

Shares of MS opened at $169.86 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $269.96 billion, a PE ratio of 17.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.33. The company’s fifty day moving average is $159.18 and its 200 day moving average is $144.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $94.33 and a fifty-two week high of $171.77.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 $18.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.42 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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