Copley Financial Group Inc. Invests $641,000 in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Copley Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 6,149 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $641,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,159,000 after acquiring an additional 36,120 shares during the last quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.8% in the second quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $561,000 after acquiring an additional 871 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,152,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $120,182,000 after buying an additional 16,350 shares during the last quarter. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $579,000. Finally, German American Bancorp Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. German American Bancorp Inc. now owns 77,420 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,070,000 after buying an additional 5,738 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $121.80.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the company’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 value of $7,150,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. This represents a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.5 %

NYSE MS traded down $0.67 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $127.24. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 355,103 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,992,680. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $123.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $108.19. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $83.09 and a twelve month high of $136.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $204.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.47, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released 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 company had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. Analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 56.32%.

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.