Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Has $3.53 Million Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 28,075 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 770 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,530,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 75.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $881,493,000 after purchasing an additional 3,369,520 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 382.4% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,597,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $166,555,000 after buying an additional 1,266,600 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at about $89,761,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,404,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,335,495,000 after buying an additional 590,872 shares during the period. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 71.2% during the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,370,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $140,077,000 after acquiring an additional 569,789 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 6th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $125.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. This trade represents a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 3.5 %

NYSE:MS opened at $123.41 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $83.09 and a one year high of $136.24. The company has a market cap of $198.82 billion, a PE ratio of 18.78, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $128.45 and a 200-day moving average of $112.42.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.32%.

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.