CWA Asset Management Group LLC Purchases New Shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,898 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $511,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,159,000 after purchasing an additional 36,120 shares in the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at about $2,660,000. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 17.8% during the 2nd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $561,000 after purchasing an additional 871 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 115.0% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter worth $87,558,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $133.52 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $109.23 and a 200 day moving average of $102.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $215.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.34. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $74.55 and a 1 year high of $133.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. 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, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $109.24.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 sale, the director now owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at $16,488,718.71. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.