Empower Advisory Group LLC Grows Stock Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 13.7% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,132 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 617 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $723,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 25.1% during the first quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,804 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $910,000 after acquiring an additional 1,565 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.2% in the 1st quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 74,581 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,701,000 after acquiring an additional 2,295 shares during the period. AMG National Trust Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 9.1% in the 1st quarter. AMG National Trust Bank now owns 16,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,885,000 after acquiring an additional 1,345 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OneAscent Family Office LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 96.1% in the 1st quarter. OneAscent Family Office LLC now owns 3,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $442,000 after acquiring an additional 1,856 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Friday, October 3rd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $180.00 target price for the company. Zacks Research raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, 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 research report on Thursday, October 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $168.23.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.1%

MS opened at $163.75 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $159.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $145.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $94.33 and a 12 month high of $171.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $260.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.80, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.33.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.73. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.55% and a net margin of 13.85%.The business had revenue of $17.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.88 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st were given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 31st. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total transaction of $16,434,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 574,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,493,199.24. The trade was a 14.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.