Arete Wealth Advisors LLC Has $478,000 Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Arete Wealth Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 10.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,609 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 526 shares during the period. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $478,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.8% during the third quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 61,101 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,430,000 after acquiring an additional 2,826 shares during the last quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.9% in the 3rd quarter. Strait & Sound Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $585,000 after acquiring an additional 1,009 shares during the last quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.2% in the 3rd quarter. Orion Capital Management LLC now owns 8,740 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $911,000 after acquiring an additional 350 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,240,729 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,621,140,000 after acquiring an additional 269,633 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Frisch Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 6.5% during the third quarter. Frisch Financial Group Inc. now owns 3,831 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $399,000 after purchasing an additional 233 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Hsbc Global Res cut Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, HSBC downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $121.80.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.3 %

MS opened at $127.91 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $123.40 and a 200 day simple moving average of $108.05. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $83.09 and a twelve month high of $136.24.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. Analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

About Morgan Stanley

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.