Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Purchased by First Bank & Trust

First Bank & Trust grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 410.9% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 12,589 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,125 shares during the quarter. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,583,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MS. Peoples Bank KS acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 138.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 174 shares during the period. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.0 %

NYSE MS opened at $140.70 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $226.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.72, a PEG ratio of 1.22 and a beta of 1.37. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $132.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $119.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $84.43 and a 52 week high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Hsbc Global Res lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

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.