Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund Acquires 1,266,600 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 382.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,597,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,266,600 shares during the period. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $166,555,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MS. Swedbank AB bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter worth approximately $87,558,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 590,872 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth approximately $43,850,000. Rokos Capital Management LLP bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter worth approximately $41,208,000. Finally, Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 19.8% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,077,282 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $216,536,000 after purchasing an additional 343,234 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The stock was 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $131.25 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.34. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $117.46 and a 200 day moving average of $105.78. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $76.33 and a 1 year high of $136.24.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. As a group, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 56.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Hsbc Global Res cut Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, HSBC cut Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their target price for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $115.63.

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.