Bahl & Gaynor Inc. Has $881,000 Stock Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 6,252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 473 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $881,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MS. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 111.0% during the 1st quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 211 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 645.8% in the 2nd quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Hopwood Financial Services Inc. increased its stake 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 buying an additional 88 shares during the period. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Abound Wealth Management raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 58.5% during the second quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on MS shares. Barclays upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $183.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $176.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Zacks Research raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $168.23.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $158.72 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $160.42 and a 200-day moving average of $146.64. The company has a market cap of $252.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.33 and a 52 week high of $171.77.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.73. The company had revenue of $17.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.55%. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.88 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

Insider Activity

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

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.