Zions Bancorporation N.A. Has $4.74 Million Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Zions Bancorporation N.A. trimmed its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 9.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 37,728 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,149 shares during the quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,743,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,159,000 after buying an additional 36,120 shares during the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 31.7% during the 3rd quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,235,000 after acquiring an additional 5,155 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $380,000. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 9.4% in the 3rd quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 7,176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $748,000 after acquiring an additional 619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cerity Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 21.4% in the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 247,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,818,000 after purchasing an additional 43,664 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. This trade 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

MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Erste Group Bank lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.93.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 3.5 %

MS stock opened at $124.38 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $130.56 and a 200-day moving average of $123.31. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $85.01 and a fifty-two week high of $142.03. The stock has a market capitalization of $200.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

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.