Empirical Finance LLC Increases Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Empirical Finance LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 44,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 805 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,686,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% during the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the period. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $29,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and set a $142.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $111.29.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $132.98 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $111.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $103.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $214.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $76.33 and a 52-week high of $134.91.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. 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 company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 56.32%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total value of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. This trade represents a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.