Mizuho Securities USA LLC Lowers Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC trimmed its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 16.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 80,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 15,702 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $8,421,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 58.0% during the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 4,303 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $405,000 after buying an additional 1,580 shares during the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at $122,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 143.6% during the 1st quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 8,810 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $830,000 after purchasing an additional 5,194 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 12.6% during the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,366 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $976,000 after buying an additional 1,158 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Inc. CA grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 22.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 138,482 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,039,000 after buying an additional 25,344 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $131.69 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $114.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $104.68. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $76.33 and a twelve month high of $135.51. The firm has a market cap of $212.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.34.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share 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 analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. As a group, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.81%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the business’s 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 approximately $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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.