Tidal Investments LLC Has $8.91 Million Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Tidal Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 85,446 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,135 shares during the period. Tidal Investments LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $8,907,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MS. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 382.4% in the third quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,597,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $166,555,000 after purchasing an additional 1,266,600 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.7% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,404,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,335,495,000 after buying an additional 590,872 shares during the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 71.2% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,370,572 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $140,077,000 after acquiring an additional 569,789 shares during the period. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth $43,850,000. Finally, Erste Asset Management GmbH acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at $46,067,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, December 6th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $121.80.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares in the company, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS opened at $127.91 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $123.87 and its 200-day simple moving average is $108.19. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $83.09 and a one year high of $136.24. The stock has a market capitalization of $206.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 56.32%.

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.