AlphaQuest LLC Has $841,000 Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

AlphaQuest LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 24.7% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,963 shares during the quarter. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $841,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in MS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,740,149,000 after acquiring an additional 7,636,547 shares in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,990,030,000 after acquiring an additional 2,989,122 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.0% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,807,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,610,881,000 after acquiring an additional 403,956 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.7% in the 1st quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,063,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,523,337,000 after acquiring an additional 219,729 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,652,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,126,205,000 after acquiring an additional 442,617 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Saturday. Citigroup increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $176.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $168.23.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 2.8%

MS stock opened at $163.78 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $154.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $139.33. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $94.33 and a fifty-two week high of $166.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $261.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.80, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.73. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.55% and a net margin of 13.85%.The firm had revenue of $18.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.42 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.88 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.03%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, July 1st that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board 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.