Assetmark Inc. Has $25.88 Million Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Assetmark Inc. reduced its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 248,283 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,310 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $25,881,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MS. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 55.6% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 20,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,126,000 after buying an additional 7,290 shares during the period. Beta Wealth Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 6.2% during the third quarter. Beta Wealth Group Inc. now owns 6,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $722,000 after acquiring an additional 405 shares in the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at about $511,000. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 15.7% in the third quarter. AEGON ASSET MANAGEMENT UK Plc now owns 719,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $74,957,000 after acquiring an additional 97,797 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hollencrest Capital Management raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 103.3% during the third quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 1,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $109,000 after purchasing an additional 529 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MS. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.24.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS opened at $129.53 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $109.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $102.36. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $73.96 and a 1-year high of $133.52. The company has a market cap of $208.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.72, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.34.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. On average, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.86%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 56.32%.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

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.