Private Trust Co. NA Has $779,000 Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Private Trust Co. NA increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,476 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 273 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $779,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Truvestments Capital LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 26.4% during the third quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 4,446 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $463,000 after acquiring an additional 929 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 62.1% during the 3rd quarter. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P now owns 54,496 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,681,000 after purchasing an additional 20,871 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at approximately $220,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.7% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,404,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,335,495,000 after buying an additional 590,872 shares during the period. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 18.5% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 167,076 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $17,415,000 after buying an additional 26,043 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MS. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their target price 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. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $115.63.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.8 %

MS opened at $131.25 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $117.46 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $105.78. The firm has a market capitalization of $211.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.98, a PEG ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.34. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $76.33 and a fifty-two week high of $136.24. 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 (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. As a group, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.82%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.32%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total value of $7,150,200.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.