Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Sold by City Holding Co.

City Holding Co. cut its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 37,414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 201 shares during the period. City Holding Co.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,704,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 115.9% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 17,619 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,713,000 after purchasing an additional 9,459 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 26.7% during the second quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 14,790 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,437,000 after acquiring an additional 3,116 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 44.9% during the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,242 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,093,000 after acquiring an additional 3,484 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 89,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,656,000 after acquiring an additional 3,874 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 526,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,137,000 after purchasing an additional 8,260 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MS shares. Citigroup increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday. Barclays raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday. HSBC downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.40.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $137.78 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $221.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.36. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $129.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $113.67. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $83.09 and a 52-week high of $138.08. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.39 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 56.32%.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.