City State Bank Sells 350 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

City State Bank lowered its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 10.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,978 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 350 shares during the period. City State Bank’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $374,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Peoples Bank KS bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 138.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 115.1% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $155.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 6th. Finally, HSBC lowered Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $125.80.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.4 %

MS stock traded up $0.50 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $123.95. 1,144,353 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,208,789. The firm has a market capitalization of $199.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.87, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $83.09 and a 52-week high of $136.24. The business has a 50 day moving average of $128.45 and a 200-day moving average of $112.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. The company had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.27 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.32%.

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.