1,500 Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS Purchased by Private Capital Advisors Inc.

Private Capital Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,740,149,000 after acquiring an additional 7,636,547 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 2,989,122 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.0% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,807,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,610,881,000 after acquiring an additional 403,956 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.7% during the first quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,063,819 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,523,337,000 after acquiring an additional 219,729 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.8% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 9,652,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,126,205,000 after acquiring an additional 442,617 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of several analyst reports. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $176.00 to $184.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.23.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.7%

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $159.25 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $153.89 and a 200-day simple moving average of $137.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market capitalization of $254.22 billion, a PE ratio of 16.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.32. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $94.33 and a 12-month high of $166.77.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.73. The business had revenue of $18.22 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.55%. The business’s revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.88 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.03%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

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.