Naviter Wealth LLC Invests $271,000 in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Naviter Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,600 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $271,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 16.3% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 28,481,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,681,778,000 after acquiring an additional 3,981,528 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.4% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,875,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,251,387,000 after buying an additional 303,654 shares in the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,597,493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,029,970,000 after acquiring an additional 212,551 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,834,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $858,573,000 after acquiring an additional 242,896 shares during the period. Finally, Boston Partners grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,151,492 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $672,969,000 after purchasing an additional 57,104 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. HSBC upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 4th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. Barclays boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have issued a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $107.56.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total transaction of $368,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS opened at $119.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company has a market capitalization of $194.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.76, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.36. The business’s 50-day moving average is $102.86 and its 200-day moving average is $99.10. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $69.42 and a fifty-two week high of $121.45.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.17. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 11.85%. The company had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.32 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.24 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 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.