CENTRAL TRUST Co Has $3.92 Million Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

CENTRAL TRUST Co boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,206 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,723 shares during the quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,923,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,000. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 10.9% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 256,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,755,000 after acquiring an additional 25,179 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 6.4% during the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 253,773 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,453,000 after purchasing an additional 15,311 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 37.8% during the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 20,312 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,117,000 after purchasing an additional 5,576 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.3% in the 3rd quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 7,812 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $814,000 after purchasing an additional 394 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % 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.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 1.1 %

Shares of MS opened at $138.35 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $129.97 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $116.14. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $83.09 and a 12 month high of $141.48. The company has a market capitalization of $222.89 billion, a PE ratio of 17.42, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.52 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.67%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven investment 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 has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

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.