UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Purchases 385,780 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,454,177 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 385,780 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned about 0.52% of Morgan Stanley worth $881,263,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 96 shares in the last quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC now owns 3,063 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $319,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. TFB Advisors LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter. TFB Advisors LLC now owns 2,662 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 99 shares in the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA now owns 33,850 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $3,529,000 after acquiring an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lansing Street Advisors grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Lansing Street Advisors now owns 12,284 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,280,000 after acquiring an additional 103 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have commented on MS shares. 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 note on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group upped their price target 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. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of Morgan Stanley from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and upped their price target for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $115.63.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the 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 sale, the director now owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at $16,488,718.71. This represents a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE MS opened at $131.20 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $118.10 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $105.96. The stock has a market cap of $211.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.97, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.34. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $76.33 and a 12-month high of $136.24. 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 (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted 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 business had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. On average, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio 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.

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