Western Wealth Management LLC Buys 2,086 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Western Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 36.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 7,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,086 shares during the quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,106,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meridian Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 34.3% in the 1st quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 23,869 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,785,000 after acquiring an additional 6,092 shares in the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at $57,000. AGF Management Ltd. boosted its position 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 valued at $38,265,000 after buying an additional 117,615 shares during the last quarter. Tlwm increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.8% in the 1st quarter. Tlwm now owns 13,863 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,617,000 after buying an additional 248 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lockheed Martin Investment Management Co. bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter worth about $362,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $176.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $168.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total transaction of $16,434,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of MS stock opened at $159.69 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $94.33 and a 12 month high of $171.77. The stock has a market cap of $253.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $160.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $145.50.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $17.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.55%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.88 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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

About Morgan Stanley

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.