Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Reduces Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich lowered its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 14.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 359 shares during the quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $290,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the 2nd quarter. Meadow Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,799 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $394,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Gallagher Capital Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the second quarter. Gallagher Capital Advisors LLC now owns 9,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,420,000 after buying an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter. McLean Asset Management Corp now owns 3,007 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $430,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the period. Bell Investment Advisors Inc raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 12.1% in the 2nd quarter. Bell Investment Advisors Inc now owns 674 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $95,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. now owns 5,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $707,000 after acquiring an additional 75 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 574,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,493,199.24. This trade represents a 14.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $176.00 to $184.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and nine have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $168.23.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS opened at $158.72 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $160.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $146.64. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $94.33 and a 1 year high of $171.77. The stock has a market cap of $252.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.33. 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 (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.73. The company had revenue of $17.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.55%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.88 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st were issued 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 yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 41.03%.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.