Morgan Stanley $MS Stake Lessened by Telos Capital Management Inc.

Telos Capital Management Inc. reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 14.3% 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 owned 108,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 18,064 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley accounts for 1.8% of Telos Capital Management Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 12th largest position. Telos Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $20,396,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Platform Technology Partners lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 14.6% during the 3rd quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 1,590 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $299,000 after acquiring an additional 203 shares during the period. Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 40.2% during the third quarter. Quest 10 Wealth Builders Inc. now owns 352 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 101 shares in the last quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the third quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 370,256 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $69,638,000 after purchasing an additional 9,182 shares during the period. Schmidt P J Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter worth about $453,000. Finally, Bfsg LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 15.3% in the third quarter. Bfsg LLC now owns 686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $129,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MS. Royal Bank Of Canada decreased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $243.00 to $195.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 16th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, October 19th. Zacks Research cut Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $214.81.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 6.0%

NYSE:MS opened at $182.31 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $287.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $152.80 and a fifty-two week high of $232.25. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $195.88 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $194.31.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.93 by $0.10. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.63% and a return on equity of 19.40%. The firm had revenue of $20.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.80 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 12.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Investors of record on Friday, October 30th will be given a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.51%.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

Here are the key news stories impacting Morgan Stanley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley says it is among the first firms using DTCC’s new tokenization service, including to tokenize U.S. equities and Treasuries. This signals a push into emerging financial-market infrastructure, though the reports provide no details on scale or near-term revenue impact. Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley led construction-sector M&A financial advisory in the first three quarters, advising on 23 deals valued at $114.5 billion. This highlights its advisory franchise, but does not establish how much revenue the transactions generated. Article
• Negative Sentiment: The immediate headwind is sector-wide risk aversion: Morgan Stanley fell alongside Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, with commentary pointing to concerns about a potential slowdown in trading and dealmaking. Article

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services company that provides investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, institutions, governments and individual investors. Founded in 1935, the company is headquartered in New York City and serves clients through operations across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other international markets.

Through its Institutional Securities segment, Morgan Stanley offers investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading, research, lending and related capital-markets services.