International Assets Investment Management LLC Invests $89.76 Million in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 713,976 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $89,761,000. Morgan Stanley accounts for approximately 4.1% of International Assets Investment Management LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 6th largest holding.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 138.1% during the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the third quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 115.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on MS shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Finally, HSBC lowered Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $125.80.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock traded down $0.94 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $125.94. The stock had a trading volume of 837,788 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,672,079. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $127.89 and its 200 day moving average is $112.02. The firm has a market capitalization of $202.89 billion, a PE ratio of 19.17, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.36. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $83.09 and a twelve month high of $136.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. The company had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.27 billion. As a group, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.94%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 56.32%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the 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 sale, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. This trade represents a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.