Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Purchased by Aptus Capital Advisors LLC

Aptus Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 21.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 150,311 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 26,371 shares during the quarter. Aptus Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $15,668,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Aigen Investment Management LP acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $633,000. Savvy Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 65.9% in the 3rd quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. now owns 3,908 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $407,000 after buying an additional 1,552 shares during the period. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 138.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,732,791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $284,866,000 after buying an additional 28,723 shares during the period. Finally, OVERSEA CHINESE BANKING Corp Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $302,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently commented on MS shares. Citigroup raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.24.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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 transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE MS traded down $1.19 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $132.33. 1,217,352 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,073,850. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $74.55 and a 52-week high of $133.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $213.19 billion, a PE ratio of 20.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.80. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $109.83 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $102.77.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. Analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.29 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.32%.

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.