Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Acquires Shares of 1,052 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 1,052 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $110,000.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,159,000 after acquiring an additional 36,120 shares during the period. Bayesian Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $2,660,000. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 17.8% in the 2nd quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $561,000 after buying an additional 871 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 115.0% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 223,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,305,000 after buying an additional 119,633 shares during the period. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at $87,558,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.24.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $132.31 on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $74.55 and a 12 month high of $133.99. The company has a market cap of $213.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.14, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s 50 day moving average is $109.83 and its two-hundred day moving average is $102.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. On average, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.29 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.32%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total value of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.24% 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.