Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Sold by Mackenzie Financial Corp

Mackenzie Financial Corp reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 69.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 415,882 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 946,529 shares during the quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $58,581,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth about $2,234,883,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,740,149,000 after purchasing an additional 7,636,547 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,990,030,000 after buying an additional 2,989,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $343,236,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $169.75 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $269.79 billion, a PE ratio of 17.41, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.33. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $94.33 and a twelve month high of $171.77. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $161.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $147.95.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 EPS 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 analysts’ expectations of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.55% 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 period last year, the business posted $1.88 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 574,986 shares in the company, valued at approximately $94,493,199.24. The trade was a 14.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Dbs Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $198.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Monday, November 24th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.38.

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.