Cetera Advisors LLC Acquires 2,930 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Cetera Advisors LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 21.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,379 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,930 shares during the quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,283,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $25,000. Horizon Bancorp Inc. IN bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth approximately $26,000. Sittner & Nelson LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 208.3% during the first quarter. Sittner & Nelson LLC now owns 333 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 225 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Finally, Tortoise Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 140.5% during the second quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 356 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 208 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 83.09% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the subject of several research reports. UBS Group downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $110.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Tuesday, October 10th. Evercore ISI lowered their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 19th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $101.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 19th. Wolfe Research raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, October 20th. Finally, BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.18.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $79.73 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $69.42 and a twelve month high of $100.99. The company has a quick ratio of 0.76, a current ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $130.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 1.40.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.07. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.86% and a return on equity of 10.70%. The firm had revenue of $13.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.22 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.53 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 5.58 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 31st were issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.26%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.93%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, major shareholder Stanley Morgan sold 135 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50,000.00, for a total transaction of $6,750,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by 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.