Stephens Inc. AR Increases Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Stephens Inc. AR boosted its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 31,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,972 shares during the period. Stephens Inc. AR’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,320,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 16.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 28,481,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,681,778,000 after purchasing an additional 3,981,528 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,875,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,251,387,000 after purchasing an additional 303,654 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,597,493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,029,970,000 after buying an additional 212,551 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,834,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $858,573,000 after buying an additional 242,896 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,151,492 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $672,969,000 after buying an additional 57,104 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on MS. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, HSBC raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, October 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.24.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $116.85 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $71.65 and a twelve month high of $121.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $189.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.79, a P/E/G ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $107.02 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $101.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 56.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total value of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.