Castleark Management LLC Acquires 30,610 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Castleark Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 66.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 76,510 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 30,610 shares during the quarter. Castleark Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $10,777,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at about $2,234,883,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $343,236,000. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 23.4% in the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,357,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,318,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,776,544 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 319.7% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,092,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $294,727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,593,774 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 99.9% during the first quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 3,111,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $363,075,000 after purchasing an additional 1,555,015 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $177.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $173.38.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total value of $16,434,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 574,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $94,493,199.24. This represents a 14.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 1.0%

MS stock opened at $178.57 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $164.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $151.23. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $94.33 and a twelve month high of $181.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $283.81 billion, a PE ratio of 18.32, a PEG ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.73. The company had revenue of $17.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.40%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.88 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st were issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 41.03%.

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.