Banco Santander S.A. Increases Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Banco Santander S.A. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 9.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 395,457 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 33,507 shares during the quarter. Banco Santander S.A.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $55,704,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Meridian Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 34.3% in the first quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,869 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,785,000 after acquiring an additional 6,092 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the first quarter worth $57,000. AGF Management Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 55.9% in the first quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 327,978 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,265,000 after acquiring an additional 117,615 shares during the last quarter. Tlwm grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.8% in the first quarter. Tlwm now owns 13,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,617,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alley Investment Management Company LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 75.0% in the first quarter. Alley Investment Management Company LLC now owns 62,469 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,288,000 after acquiring an additional 26,763 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 2.8%

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $163.78 on Monday. 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 has a one year low of $94.33 and a one year high of $166.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $261.45 billion, a PE ratio of 16.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.32. The business’s fifty day moving average is $154.69 and its 200 day moving average is $139.33.

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

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on MS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Citigroup increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. UBS Group increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.23.

About Morgan Stanley

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.