Aigen Investment Management LP Makes New Investment in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Aigen Investment Management LP bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 6,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $633,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised 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 valued at $491,159,000 after purchasing an additional 36,120 shares during the last quarter. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth about $2,660,000. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 17.8% during the second quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $561,000 after buying an additional 871 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 115.0% during the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 223,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,305,000 after buying an additional 119,633 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth about $87,558,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MS. Citigroup raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. HSBC upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.24.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the firm’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 sale, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS stock opened at $132.75 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $110.49 and a 200-day moving average of $103.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $76.33 and a 12 month high of $134.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $213.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.34.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.