Good Life Advisors LLC Buys 931 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Good Life Advisors LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 10.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,513 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 931 shares during the period. Good Life Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $992,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% in the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth $26,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total value of $368,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at $4,549,326. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $107.56.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of MS stock opened at $119.45 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $69.42 and a twelve month high of $121.45. The stock has a market cap of $194.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.36. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $102.86 and a 200 day moving average of $99.10. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 11.85%. The firm had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.95 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 67.40%.

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.