1,791 Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS Acquired by Atlas Private Wealth Advisors

Atlas Private Wealth Advisors bought a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,791 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $252,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Meridian Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 34.3% during the first quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,869 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,785,000 after buying an additional 6,092 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth approximately $57,000. AGF Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 55.9% during the first quarter. AGF Management Ltd. now owns 327,978 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $38,265,000 after buying an additional 117,615 shares during the last quarter. Tlwm lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.8% during the first quarter. Tlwm now owns 13,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,617,000 after buying an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Advisors Inc. OK lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.3% during the first quarter. Capital Advisors Inc. OK now owns 503,118 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $58,699,000 after buying an additional 11,332 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $164.17 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $156.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $141.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The firm has a market cap of $262.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.84, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.32. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $94.33 and a one year high of $167.13.

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 business had revenue of $18.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.55% and a net margin of 13.85%.Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.88 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MS. UBS Group upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. BMO Capital Markets assumed coverage on Morgan Stanley in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $180.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted 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. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total value of $16,434,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 574,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 is available through this hyperlink. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.