Baugh & Associates LLC Acquires 629 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Baugh & Associates LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 69,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 629 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley comprises about 3.6% of Baugh & Associates LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Baugh & Associates LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $7,028,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Advisory Alpha LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.6% in the first quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 2,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $249,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% during the first quarter. Manchester Capital Management LLC now owns 3,135 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after buying an additional 202 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 3.3% during the first quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 48,371 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,555,000 after buying an additional 1,531 shares during the period. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 12.8% during the first quarter. Envestnet Portfolio Solutions Inc. now owns 125,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $11,770,000 after buying an additional 14,175 shares during the period. Finally, AIA Group Ltd grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 96.6% during the first quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 33,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,164,000 after buying an additional 16,507 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on MS. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. HSBC upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, October 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $109.24.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 11.6 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $131.43 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $73.96 and a 12-month high of $133.52. The company has a market cap of $213.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.00, a PEG ratio of 1.09 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $108.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $101.92.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 56.32%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.