Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Sold by Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC

Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 17.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,645 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 761 shares during the period. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $513,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.0% during 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. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.7% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,063,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,523,337,000 after purchasing an additional 219,729 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.8% during the first 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 worth $1,126,205,000 after purchasing an additional 442,617 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on MS. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.23.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.7%

MS stock opened at $159.21 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $154.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $138.43. The stock has a market cap of $254.15 billion, a PE ratio of 16.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.32. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $94.33 and a fifty-two week high of $166.77.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $18.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.55%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 41.03%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 8.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley 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.