GSA Capital Partners LLP Takes Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 4,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $513,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Capital International Investors raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 16.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 28,481,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,681,778,000 after purchasing an additional 3,981,528 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 600.8% in the first quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 1,301,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $122,581,000 after purchasing an additional 1,116,058 shares during the period. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at approximately $87,558,000. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $43,850,000. Finally, Rokos Capital Management LLP purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at approximately $41,208,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note 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 note on Friday, October 4th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $111.29.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the 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 in the company, valued at $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 available through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $132.21 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $213.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.12, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.34. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $76.33 and a one year high of $135.51. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $113.97 and a 200-day simple moving average of $104.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. The firm had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.27 billion. On average, analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.80%. Morgan Stanley’s 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.