Marshall Wace LLP Boosts Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 319.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,092,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,593,774 shares during the quarter. Marshall Wace LLP owned approximately 0.13% of Morgan Stanley worth $294,727,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MS. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,799 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $394,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Gallagher Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the second quarter. Gallagher Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,420,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the period. Great Diamond Partners LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the second quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC now owns 13,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,882,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 3,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $430,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bell Investment Advisors Inc increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 12.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $176.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Zacks Research raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Three 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $173.38.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE MS opened at $174.87 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $162.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $148.94. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $94.33 and a 12-month high of $176.00. The firm has a market cap of $277.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.94, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.73. The company had revenue of $17.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.40% and a net margin of 13.85%.Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.88 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 41.03%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 574,986 shares in the company, valued at $94,493,199.24. This represents a 14.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.19% of the stock is currently 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.