Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Sold by Inscription Capital LLC

Inscription Capital LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 31.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,664 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,027 shares during the quarter. Inscription Capital LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,253,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MS. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $78,825,883,310. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 16,326,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,686,881,000 after acquiring an additional 87,533 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,206,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,342,532,000 after acquiring an additional 188,296 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.5% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 9,794,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,611,846,000 after acquiring an additional 422,775 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.9% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,235,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,190,585,000 after purchasing an additional 65,739 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $182.31 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $152.80 and a 52-week high of $232.25. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $195.88 and a 200 day moving average of $194.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $287.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.10. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 15.63%. The business had revenue of $20.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.80 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 12.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be given a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 36.51%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. TD Cowen dropped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $205.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Tuesday. HSBC lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $215.00 to $219.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. Freedom Capital upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada lowered their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $243.00 to $195.00 and set a “sector perform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $214.81.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Morgan Stanley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley says it is among the first firms using DTCC’s new tokenization service, including to tokenize U.S. equities and Treasuries. This signals a push into emerging financial-market infrastructure, though the reports provide no details on scale or near-term revenue impact. Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley led construction-sector M&A financial advisory in the first three quarters, advising on 23 deals valued at $114.5 billion. This highlights its advisory franchise, but does not establish how much revenue the transactions generated. Article
• Negative Sentiment: The immediate headwind is sector-wide risk aversion: Morgan Stanley fell alongside Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, with commentary pointing to concerns about a potential slowdown in trading and dealmaking. Article

Morgan Stanley Profile

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services company that provides investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, institutions, governments and individual investors. Founded in 1935, the company is headquartered in New York City and serves clients through operations across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other international markets.

Through its Institutional Securities segment, Morgan Stanley offers investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading, research, lending and related capital-markets services.