Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC Has $750,000 Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC decreased its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 7.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,197 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 551 shares during the quarter. Signature Estate & Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $750,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,159,000 after acquiring an additional 36,120 shares during the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth approximately $2,660,000. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 17.8% during the second 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 increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 115.0% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 223,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,305,000 after buying an additional 119,633 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth approximately $87,558,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MS shares. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. HSBC upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $111.29.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.2 %

Shares of MS opened at $134.06 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $76.33 and a one year high of $134.91. The company has a market cap of $215.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.40, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $112.55 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $103.75.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.76%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. This represents a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.