First National Corp MA ADV Invests $207,000 in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

First National Corp MA ADV purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 1,648 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Peoples Bank KS bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 138.1% during the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 115.1% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $139.88 on Monday. 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 has a one year low of $83.09 and a one year high of $142.03. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $130.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $117.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $225.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. Analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.65%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 46.60%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley 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.