FDx Advisors Inc. Purchases Shares of 2,973 Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

FDx Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 2,973 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $310,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MS. Capital International Investors grew its holdings 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 boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 600.8% in the 1st 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 last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at $87,558,000. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 433.4% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 779,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $73,392,000 after buying an additional 633,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth $43,850,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 3.1 %

Shares of MS opened at $133.52 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $74.55 and a one year high of $133.99. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $109.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $102.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a market capitalization of $215.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.34.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. The company had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.27 billion. Sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.32%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the director now owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at $16,488,718.71. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the subject of a number of research reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective 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. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $109.24.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.