BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Decreases Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp reduced its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 13.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 203,385 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 31,538 shares during the period. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $21,201,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 119,633 shares during the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.8% during the second quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 4,752 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $462,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10,240.0% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 517 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $50,000 after purchasing an additional 512 shares during the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth about $26,000. Finally, Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 25.7% during the second quarter. Trust Co. of Toledo NA OH now owns 20,534 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,996,000 after purchasing an additional 4,203 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group increased 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. HSBC lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $118.00.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. This trade represents a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.3 %

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $131.61 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $119.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $106.42. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $212.03 billion, a PE ratio of 20.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.34. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $78.21 and a 12-month high of $136.24.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.32%.

Morgan Stanley 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.