Advocate Group LLC Has $8.79 Million Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Advocate Group LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 84,365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,557 shares during the quarter. Morgan Stanley makes up 1.6% of Advocate Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest position. Advocate Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $8,794,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Viewpoint Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Viewpoint Capital Management LLC now owns 12,319 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,197,000 after acquiring an additional 104 shares during the period. WR Wealth Planners LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 24.4% in the 2nd quarter. WR Wealth Planners LLC now owns 541 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $53,000 after purchasing an additional 106 shares during the last quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the third quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 12,893 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,344,000 after purchasing an additional 107 shares during the period. Brookstone Capital Management raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 7,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $733,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the period. Finally, Waldron Private Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.4% in the second quarter. Waldron Private Wealth LLC now owns 7,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $774,000 after buying an additional 111 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Citigroup increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, July 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.06.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $797,775.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 87,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,266,848.03. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $797,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 87,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,266,848.03. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total transaction of $21,012,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now directly owns 150,000 shares in the company, valued at $15,759,000. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE MS traded down $0.76 on Thursday, hitting $108.28. 503,748 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,015,309. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $100.60 and a 200-day moving average of $98.27. The stock has a market cap of $175.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.36. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week high of $109.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $15.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.32 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 10.17%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.24 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.42%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.40%.

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.