Benjamin Edwards Inc. Purchases 22,150 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3,067.9% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 22,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 22,150 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,384,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% in the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 138.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total value of $7,150,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. This trade represents a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on MS shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $120.67.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.3 %

MS opened at $129.99 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $209.42 billion, a PE ratio of 19.79, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $79.32 and a 1-year high of $136.24. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $120.97 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $107.05.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results 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 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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.85%. 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.