Morgan Stanley $MS Position Raised by Groupama Asset Managment

Groupama Asset Managment lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 282,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,694 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $39,715,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of MS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% during 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 period. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at approximately $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during the first 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 period. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth approximately $343,236,000. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 99.9% in the 1st quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 3,111,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $363,075,000 after buying an additional 1,555,015 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total value of $16,434,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 574,986 shares in the company, valued at $94,493,199.24. This represents a 14.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MS. Wolfe Research upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $198.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Dbs Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $173.38.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $168.15 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $161.13 and its 200 day moving average price is $147.53. The firm has a market cap of $267.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.25, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.33. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $94.33 and a 52-week high of $171.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results 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 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 16.55% and a net margin of 13.85%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.88 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

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