Nordea Investment Management AB Has $127.70 Million Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 912,282 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,583 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB owned about 0.06% of Morgan Stanley worth $127,701,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of 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 during the period. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter worth about $30,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the period. Finally, Abound Wealth Management grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 58.5% during the 2nd quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MS. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $176.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Citigroup raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $165.54.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $158.70 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $153.29 and a 200-day moving average of $136.98. The company has a market cap of $253.34 billion, a PE ratio of 16.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.32. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $94.33 and a one year high of $166.77.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.88 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.03%.

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.