26,977 Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS Purchased by B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 26,977 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,800,000.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,123,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,779,734,000 after buying an additional 1,354,142 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,045,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,387,005,000 after buying an additional 749,150 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,234,883,000. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.0% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,807,153 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,610,881,000 after acquiring an additional 403,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.9% in the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,438,530 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,894,023,000 after purchasing an additional 374,711 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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 that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total transaction of $16,434,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE MS opened at $178.57 on Friday. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $164.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $151.23. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $94.33 and a fifty-two week high of $181.98. The company has a market cap of $283.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.73. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.40%. The company had revenue of $17.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.42 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.88 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors 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 is 41.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Wolfe Research raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $198.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target 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, eight have given a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $173.38.

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.