Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Sold by City Holding Co.

City Holding Co. cut its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.5% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 37,414 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 201 shares during the period. City Holding Co.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,704,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 474.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,203,000 after buying an additional 17,454 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,159,000 after purchasing an additional 36,120 shares during the period. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,040,000. Natixis Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,152,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $120,182,000 after buying an additional 16,350 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of 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 worth $881,493,000 after buying an additional 3,369,520 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MS. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $129.40.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of MS stock opened at $137.78 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $221.97 billion, a PE ratio of 20.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $83.09 and a 1 year high of $138.08. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $129.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $113.67.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.39 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.32%.

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.