Smith Salley Wealth Management Raises Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Smith Salley Wealth Management lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 27.7% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 20,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,493 shares during the quarter. Smith Salley Wealth Management’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,158,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 587,689 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,249,000 after purchasing an additional 2,777 shares during the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,308 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $970,000 after buying an additional 410 shares during the period. MCF Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.9% in the third quarter. MCF Advisors LLC now owns 3,986 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $416,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. First Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter worth approximately $257,000. Finally, NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the third quarter. NorthCrest Asset Manangement LLC now owns 181,749 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,945,000 after acquiring an additional 1,173 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Citigroup boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased 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, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.24.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.9 %

MS opened at $116.88 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $69.42 and a one year high of $121.45. The company has a market cap of $189.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.79, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.36. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $105.34 and its 200-day simple moving average is $100.22.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the director now owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.