Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Grows Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 113.0% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 618,110 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 327,870 shares during the quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $87,067,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MS. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 111.0% in the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 645.8% in the second quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 50.0% in the first quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Abound Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 58.5% in the second quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RMG Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth about $35,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total transaction of $16,434,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 574,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $94,493,199.24. This represents a 14.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Zacks Research raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.23.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $162.31 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $257.96 billion, a PE ratio of 16.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $158.11 and its 200 day moving average price is $143.21. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $94.33 and a 1 year high of $167.13.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.73. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.55%. The business had revenue of $18.22 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.88 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.03%.

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.