Captrust Financial Advisors Purchases 845 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 122,900 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 845 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $12,811,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at about $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% in the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the period. Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total value of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. This represents a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. HSBC downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $118.00.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $131.61 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $119.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $106.46. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $78.21 and a 52-week high of $136.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $212.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.03, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.34.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.