Cadence Bank Makes New $230,000 Investment in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Cadence Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 2,209 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $230,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,404,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,335,495,000 after purchasing an additional 590,872 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during 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 buying an additional 303,654 shares during the last quarter. Legal & General Group Plc increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,597,493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,029,970,000 after acquiring an additional 212,551 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 8,834,372 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $858,573,000 after acquiring an additional 242,896 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,159,000 after acquiring an additional 36,120 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.1 %

MS stock opened at $131.21 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $118.71 and a 200-day moving average of $106.14. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $76.33 and a fifty-two week high of $136.24. The company has a market capitalization of $211.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.97, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.34. 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 released its quarterly earnings data 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. The business 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%. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.82%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 56.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the director now owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. HSBC lowered Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group increased 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. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $118.00.

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.