F m Investments LLC Has $12.45 Million Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

F m Investments LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 88,410 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,140 shares during the period. F m Investments LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $12,453,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,234,883,000. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 24.1% during the second quarter. Measured Wealth Private Client Group LLC now owns 2,921 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $411,000 after buying an additional 567 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at $14,771,000. Scotia Capital Inc. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 58.6% during the second quarter. Scotia Capital Inc. now owns 200,761 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,279,000 after acquiring an additional 74,143 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Level Four Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC now owns 107,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $15,145,000 after acquiring an additional 1,123 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MS shares. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $176.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.38.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $168.15 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $267.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $161.13 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $147.53. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.33 and a 52 week high of $171.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results 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 net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.55%. The firm had revenue of $17.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.88 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 41.03%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total value of $16,434,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 574,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,493,199.24. The trade was a 14.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.