Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC Buys New Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 2,056 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $214,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% during the second quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth $26,000. Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Lynx Investment Advisory bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth $30,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.1 %

NYSE:MS opened at $119.45 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The company has a market cap of $194.13 billion, a PE ratio of 21.76, a PEG ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.36. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $69.42 and a 52-week high of $121.45. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $102.86 and a 200 day simple moving average of $99.10.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.32 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 10.17%. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.24 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 67.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total transaction of $368,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on MS. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday. Oppenheimer cut Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $107.56.

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.