Ropes Wealth Advisors LLC Has $390,000 Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

30 Dec 2023, 16:52 by Sarita Garza · The Markets Daily

Ropes Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Free Report) by 57.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,753 shares during the quarter. Ropes Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $390,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MS. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 114.8% in the first quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 23,059,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,024,589,000 after purchasing an additional 12,321,786 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $956,566,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 125,756.8% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,641,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $904,714,000 after purchasing an additional 10,632,735 shares in the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 96,878.4% in the second quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 8,727,085 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $745,293,000 after purchasing an additional 8,718,086 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at approximately $451,711,000. 83.09% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, major shareholder Stanley Morgan sold 135 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50,000.00, for a total value of $6,750,000.00. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, October 5th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. BNP Paribas downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, November 20th. HSBC started coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, September 7th. They set a “buy” rating and a $99.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $93.00 to $92.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 5th. Finally, Societe Generale downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and set a $80.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, November 28th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $93.51.

Get Our Latest Analysis on Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $93.24 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $69.42 and a 12 month high of $100.99. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $80.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $83.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $153.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.71, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.76, a quick ratio of 0.76 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.70.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 18th. The financial services provider reported $1.38 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.31 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $13.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.22 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.86% and a return on equity of 10.70%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.53 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 5.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, October 31st were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 60.93%.

About Morgan Stanley

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