Bank of Jackson Hole Trust Purchases New Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Bank of Jackson Hole Trust purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 8,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,078,000.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.4% in the 4th quarter. Lorne Steinberg Wealth Management Inc. now owns 52,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,606,000 after buying an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 20.3% in the 4th quarter. Klingman & Associates LLC now owns 2,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $366,000 after buying an additional 492 shares in the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 1,628,303 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $204,710,000 after buying an additional 129,800 shares in the last quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 33.0% in the 4th quarter. Kentucky Retirement Systems Insurance Trust Fund now owns 49,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,168,000 after buying an additional 12,179 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Key Financial Inc grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.0% in the 4th quarter. Key Financial Inc now owns 3,127 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $393,000 after buying an additional 310 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $140.66 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $131.89 and a 200 day simple moving average of $119.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $226.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.71, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $84.43 and a one year high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res cut Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven 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, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.