Cidel Asset Management Inc. Sells 276 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Cidel Asset Management Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.8% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 6,961 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 276 shares during the period. Cidel Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $981,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 111.0% during the first quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares in the last quarter. MorganRosel Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at $27,000. Garde Capital Inc. purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at $30,000. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 50.0% during the first quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Abound Wealth Management raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 58.5% during the second quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $165.54.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $158.70 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.33 and a 52 week high of $166.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $253.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28, a PEG ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $153.29 and a 200 day moving average price of $137.10.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its 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. The firm had revenue of $18.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.55%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.88 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 41.03%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, July 1st that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.