Plato Investment Management Ltd Purchases 9,196 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

by · The Markets Daily

Plato Investment Management Ltd raised its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Free Report) by 32.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 37,481 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,196 shares during the quarter. Plato Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,903,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,159,000 after buying an additional 36,120 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter worth $2,660,000. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.8% in the 2nd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $561,000 after buying an additional 871 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 115.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 223,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,305,000 after acquiring an additional 119,633 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter worth $87,558,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the director now owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:MS opened at $132.75 on Thursday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $110.49 and a 200-day moving average price of $103.05. The stock has a market cap of $213.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.21, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $76.33 and a 12 month high of $134.65.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. Equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.79%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 56.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. UBS Group raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. HSBC raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, July 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.24.

View Our Latest Report on MS

About Morgan Stanley

(Free Report)

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.

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