Community Bank N.A. Raises Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Community Bank N.A. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 11.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 24,904 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,523 shares during the quarter. Community Bank N.A.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,322,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. PFG Advisors boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 8.2% in the 3rd quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 2,596 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $212,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the period. Summit Global Investments boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 2,692 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $220,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. Park Place Capital Corp boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 56.2% in the 3rd quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 3,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $311,000 after acquiring an additional 1,368 shares during the period. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 6.2% in the 3rd quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 2,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $190,000 after acquiring an additional 142 shares during the period. Finally, Meridian Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 81.0% in the 3rd quarter. Meridian Wealth Management LLC now owns 25,770 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,105,000 after acquiring an additional 11,533 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $91.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Barclays upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. UBS Group upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.07.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS traded up $0.10 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $93.86. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,100,066 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,804,559. The stock has a market capitalization of $152.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.10, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.43. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $69.42 and a fifty-two week high of $95.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $89.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.26.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.87% and a net margin of 9.57%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.70 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 6.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be paid a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.62%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 61.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.93, for a total transaction of $4,396,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 400,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,172,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.93, for a total transaction of $4,396,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 400,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $35,172,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.92, for a total value of $879,200.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 313,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,562,040.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 302,355 shares of company stock valued at $26,753,102. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.