Morgan Stanley $MS Stock Holdings Boosted by Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. increased its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.0% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 531,015 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,240 shares during the period. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $74,799,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,740,149,000 after buying an additional 7,636,547 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during 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. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth $343,236,000. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 99.9% during the 1st quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 3,111,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $363,075,000 after acquiring an additional 1,555,015 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MS shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Zacks Research raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective 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. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.23.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.1%

NYSE:MS opened at $163.75 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $159.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $145.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $260.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.33. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $94.33 and a 1-year high of $171.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $17.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.42 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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 (DPR) is currently 41.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total transaction of $16,434,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 574,986 shares in the company, valued at approximately $94,493,199.24. The trade was a 14.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.