Hilltop Holdings Inc. Purchases 32,044 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Hilltop Holdings Inc. grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 394.0% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 40,178 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 32,044 shares during the quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,188,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Holocene Advisors LP purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the third quarter valued at about $45,383,000. Coastwise Capital Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $354,000. Ascent Group LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 7.0% in the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 2,465 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $257,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Beacon Investment Advisory Services Inc. now owns 233,502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $24,340,000 after buying an additional 998 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3,067.9% during the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 22,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,384,000 after acquiring an additional 22,150 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on MS. UBS Group raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. HSBC downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, 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. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $118.00.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE MS opened at $131.03 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $211.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $79.32 and a 52-week high of $136.24. The company has a fifty day moving average of $119.29 and a 200-day moving average of $106.46.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

About Morgan Stanley

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.