Nwam LLC Makes New $380,000 Investment in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Nwam LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,648 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $380,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% in the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth about $29,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. This represents a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $134.69 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $116.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $105.30. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $76.33 and a 12-month high of $135.67. The firm has a market cap of $216.99 billion, a PE ratio of 20.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 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 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. The company had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.75%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MS. Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $112.94.

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.