Morgan Stanley $MS Holdings Boosted by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System raised its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 13.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 68,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 8,425 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $12,961,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crown Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $320,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Hughes Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 55.7% in the second quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC now owns 137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 35.7% in the second quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. now owns 194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 51 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the second quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 8,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,724,000 after buying an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Bank OZK grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 3.0% during the second quarter. Bank OZK now owns 1,815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $379,000 after buying an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, Director Judith Miscik sold 2,480 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.21, for a total value of $454,360.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 64,215 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,764,830.15. This represents a 3.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Citigroup lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Tuesday, November 3rd. HSBC raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $215.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Erste Group Bank lowered Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $223.00 to $217.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $214.81.

Key Morgan Stanley News

Investors following MS have been watching these news items:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley agreed to acquire Vinyl Equity, a digital transfer-agent platform. The deal would add share-transfer and shareholder-recordkeeping services to Morgan Stanley at Work, potentially strengthening workplace and wealth-management relationships and helping the firm retain clients as private companies go public. Sidley Represents Morgan Stanley in Its Acquisition of Vinyl Equity
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley strategist Mike Wilson said the market correction may be nearing its end but urged selectivity. A recovery could benefit trading and investment-banking activity, although this is a broad market view rather than a specific forecast for MS. Morgan Stanley strategist on the market correction
• Negative Sentiment: Director Judith Miscik sold 2,480 shares for about $454,000, trimming her stake by 3.72%. The sale may weigh slightly on sentiment, but she retained more than 64,000 shares, limiting its significance. Morgan Stanley director share sale

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.6%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $190.59 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $152.80 and a 52-week high of $232.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $297.91 billion, a PE ratio of 15.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.58, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $193.73 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $194.41.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.10. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.63% and a return on equity of 19.26%. The company had revenue of $20.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.93 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.80 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 12.83 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Investors of record on Friday, October 30th will be paid a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.4%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 36.51%.

Morgan Stanley Profile

Morgan Stanley is a global financial services company that provides investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individuals. Its Institutional Securities business offers services such as financial advisory, capital raising, sales and trading, and research. The company also provides financial planning, brokerage and banking services through its Wealth Management business, while its Investment Management business offers investment strategies and portfolio management to a range of clients.