Community Bank N.A. Sells 1,927 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Community Bank N.A. lowered its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 7.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,927 shares during the period. Community Bank N.A.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,840,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,159,000 after acquiring an additional 36,120 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 66,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,971,000 after purchasing an additional 497 shares during the period. King Luther Capital Management Corp lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 23.3% in the 3rd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 18,238 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,901,000 after purchasing an additional 3,448 shares during the period. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding S.A. now owns 179,126 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,672,000 after purchasing an additional 9,076 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 50,254 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,238,000 after purchasing an additional 903 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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 approximately $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s 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 trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $120.26 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $130.55 and a 200-day moving average price of $122.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The firm has a market capitalization of $193.96 billion, a PE ratio of 15.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $85.01 and a 52 week high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MS shares. HSBC cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.60.

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.