Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Purchases 497 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 66,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 497 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $6,971,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the last quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.3% during the third quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC now owns 3,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $319,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the last quarter. TFB Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.9% in the third quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 2,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.3% in the third quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 33,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,529,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Lansing Street Advisors increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 12,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,280,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of 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 30.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.2 %

MS stock opened at $134.69 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $116.16 and its 200-day moving average is $105.17. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $76.33 and a twelve month high of $135.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $216.99 billion, a PE ratio of 20.50, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. The firm 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.75%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MS. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Barclays boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. HSBC raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, October 4th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.94.

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.