2,318 Shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Acquired by Soltis Investment Advisors LLC

Soltis Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,318 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $242,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 96.6% during the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 34,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,578,000 after purchasing an additional 16,865 shares in the last quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.4% in the third quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC now owns 4,181 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $436,000 after buying an additional 253 shares in the last quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.8% in the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 61,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,430,000 after acquiring an additional 2,826 shares during the period. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 21.9% during the third quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $585,000 after acquiring an additional 1,009 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Orion Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC now owns 8,740 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $911,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $127.91 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $123.40 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $108.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $83.09 and a twelve month high of $136.24. The company has a market capitalization of $206.07 billion, a PE ratio of 19.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.35.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. The company had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. Research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 56.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. Barclays boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Hsbc Global Res lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $121.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. This represents a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.