Essex Savings Bank Acquires 263 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Essex Savings Bank boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 8.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,393 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 263 shares during the period. Essex Savings Bank’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $427,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.1% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,240,729 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,621,140,000 after buying an additional 269,633 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,404,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,335,495,000 after acquiring an additional 590,872 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,597,493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,029,970,000 after purchasing an additional 212,551 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.8% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,454,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $881,263,000 after purchasing an additional 385,780 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 75.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,493,000 after purchasing an additional 3,369,520 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $126.07.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $131.08 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $83.09 and a 12 month high of $136.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.18 billion, a PE ratio of 19.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.36. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $128.74 and its 200 day moving average price is $113.02.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.