Kingsview Wealth Management LLC Grows Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 18.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 6,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,025 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $690,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,159,000 after buying an additional 36,120 shares during the period. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.8% in the 2nd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $561,000 after buying an additional 871 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 115.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 223,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,305,000 after acquiring an additional 119,633 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth $87,558,000. Finally, Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at approximately $579,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at $16,488,718.71. This trade represents a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. HSBC lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $115.63.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $131.20 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 $211.37 billion, a PE ratio of 19.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.34. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $118.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $105.96. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $76.33 and a 1 year high of $136.24.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its 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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. The firm had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.27 billion. Analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.