Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Boosts Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.5% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 187,020 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 9,714 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $26,344,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,799 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Gallagher Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the second quarter. Gallagher Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,420,000 after buying an additional 70 shares in the last quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the second quarter. Great Diamond Partners LLC now owns 13,361 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,882,000 after buying an additional 72 shares in the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the second quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 3,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $430,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, Bell Investment Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 12.1% in the second quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 73 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 firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 574,986 shares in the company, valued at $94,493,199.24. This trade represents a 14.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. Wolfe Research upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $198.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, November 24th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. 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, Dbs Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $173.38.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of MS stock opened at $178.93 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $284.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.35, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $163.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $150.30. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $94.33 and a twelve month high of $180.65.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.73. The business 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 16.40%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.88 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 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.