Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. Acquires 127,066 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 53.0% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 367,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 127,066 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $38,242,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 382.4% during the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,597,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $166,555,000 after purchasing an additional 1,266,600 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,404,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,335,495,000 after acquiring an additional 590,872 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth $43,850,000. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.8% in the third quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,454,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $881,263,000 after purchasing an additional 385,780 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 19.8% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,077,282 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $216,536,000 after buying an additional 343,234 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MS. Citigroup lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. HSBC lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $118.00.

Insider Activity

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

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $131.66 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $212.11 billion, a PE ratio of 20.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $78.21 and a 12 month high of $136.24. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $119.29 and its 200-day moving average price is $106.37.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued 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 business had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid 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 2.81%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.32%.

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.