Ameriprise Financial Inc. Purchases 374,711 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.9% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,438,530 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 374,711 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley accounts for about 0.5% of Ameriprise Financial Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 28th biggest holding. Ameriprise Financial Inc. owned about 0.84% of Morgan Stanley worth $1,894,023,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 111.0% in the first 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 increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 645.8% in the second 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 period. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth about $32,000. Abound Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 58.5% in 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 period. Finally, RMG Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $94,493,199.24. The trade was a 14.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Dbs Bank raised Morgan Stanley to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $186.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.38.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 1.0%

MS stock opened at $178.57 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $283.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $94.33 and a 1-year high of $181.98. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $164.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $151.08.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results 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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.40%. The firm had revenue of $17.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $16.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.88 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st were given a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.