Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Raises Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,731 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 545 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,858,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 474.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,203,000 after buying an additional 17,454 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,159,000 after buying an additional 36,120 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,152,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $120,182,000 after buying an additional 16,350 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 75.2% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $881,493,000 after acquiring an additional 3,369,520 shares during the period. Finally, Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at $579,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $126.07.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.5 %

MS stock opened at $124.66 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $200.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.97, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.36. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $128.74 and a two-hundred day moving average of $113.02. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $83.09 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) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. As a group, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the director now owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. This represents a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.