Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Purchases 15,622 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.1% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,971,995 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,622 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,143,720,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 600.8% during the first quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 1,301,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $122,581,000 after buying an additional 1,116,058 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $87,558,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $43,850,000. Rokos Capital Management LLP acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter worth approximately $41,208,000. Finally, Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,683,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MS. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” 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 target for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Ten investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.94.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE:MS opened at $133.83 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $215.61 billion, a PE ratio of 20.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.34. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $76.33 and a fifty-two week high of $135.51. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $114.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.68.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 earnings per share 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 paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.76%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.