CoreFirst Bank & Trust Purchases New Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

CoreFirst Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund acquired 661 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $83,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Peoples Bank KS bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Crowley Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. UBS Group boosted 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. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. 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.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $132.33.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, 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 this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $125.25 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $130.57 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $123.51. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $85.01 and a twelve month high of $142.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $202.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.77, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 46.60%.

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.