Transform Wealth LLC Invests $203,000 in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Transform Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 1,948 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 16.3% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 28,481,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,681,778,000 after acquiring an additional 3,981,528 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.4% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,875,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,251,387,000 after purchasing an additional 303,654 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,597,493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,029,970,000 after purchasing an additional 212,551 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.8% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,834,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $858,573,000 after buying an additional 242,896 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Boston Partners grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,151,492 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $672,969,000 after acquiring an additional 57,104 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Citigroup raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, HSBC raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, October 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.06.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $119.52 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $194.24 billion, a PE ratio of 21.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $69.42 and a 1-year high of $121.45. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $102.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $98.96.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total value of $368,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.