Covea Finance Has $15.93 Million Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Covea Finance raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 106.6% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 100,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 51,700 shares during the period. Covea Finance’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $15,928,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Management Professionals Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.9% during the third quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 8,038 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,278,000 after acquiring an additional 228 shares during the period. CWM LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 7.8% during the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 127,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,303,000 after purchasing an additional 9,199 shares in the last quarter. Busey Bank raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.3% during the 3rd quarter. Busey Bank now owns 9,313 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,480,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 122,092 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $19,408,000 after purchasing an additional 2,453 shares during the period. Finally, BSW Wealth Partners lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.1% in the third quarter. BSW Wealth Partners now owns 6,045 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $961,000 after purchasing an additional 346 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped 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. Zacks Research raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $184.00 to $202.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $174.77.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total value of $16,434,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 574,986 shares in the company, valued at approximately $94,493,199.24. This represents a 14.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $181.65 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $168.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $154.14. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.33 and a 52 week high of $182.00. The stock has a market cap of $288.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.63, a PEG ratio of 1.48 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $17.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.88 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Investors of record on Friday, October 31st were paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 41.03%.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1935 by Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley, the company provides a broad range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individual investors. Leadership has been guided by a senior executive team and board of directors; James P. Gorman has served as the company’s chief executive and chairman in recent years.

The firm’s primary business activities are organized around three principal businesses: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management.