NBT Bank N A NY Sells 1,263 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

NBT Bank N A NY reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 8.3% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 14,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,263 shares during the quarter. NBT Bank N A NY’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,763,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 75.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $881,493,000 after acquiring an additional 3,369,520 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $324,118,000. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 382.4% in the 3rd quarter. Healthcare of Ontario Pension Plan Trust Fund now owns 1,597,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $166,555,000 after acquiring an additional 1,266,600 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 26,142.5% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,055,210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $132,661,000 after acquiring an additional 1,051,189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $89,761,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 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 Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $111.61 on Tuesday. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $132.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $122.20. The stock has a market cap of $180.00 billion, a PE ratio of 14.06, 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.