Vontobel Holding Ltd. Increases Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Vontobel Holding Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 356,654 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,155 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $37,178,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total transaction of $368,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at $4,549,326. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have commented on MS shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $103.06.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE MS opened at $119.52 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $194.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.77, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $102.36 and a 200 day moving average of $98.96. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $69.42 and a twelve month high of $121.45.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $15.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.32 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 10.17%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.24 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.