Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Buys 9,154 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 596,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,154 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $62,224,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 3,748 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $391,000 after purchasing an additional 96 shares during the period. Omnia Family Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.3% during the 3rd quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC now owns 3,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $319,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. TFB Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 2,662 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $277,000 after buying an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.3% in the third quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 33,850 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,529,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lansing Street Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the third quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 12,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,280,000 after purchasing an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Hsbc Global Res lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $138.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $120.67.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $130.33 on Friday. 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 has a fifty-two week low of $79.32 and a fifty-two week high of $136.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $209.97 billion, a PE ratio of 19.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.35. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $121.49 and its 200-day simple moving average is $107.21.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. The firm had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.84%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction 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 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 document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

About Morgan Stanley

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.