First Interstate Bank Has $289,000 Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

First Interstate Bank lessened its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 39.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,050 shares during the quarter. First Interstate Bank’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $289,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,474,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,917,159,000 after acquiring an additional 4,098,577 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 13,159,271 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,074,718,000 after purchasing an additional 415,531 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 13,107,965 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,070,528,000 after purchasing an additional 277,909 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $956,566,000. Finally, Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 125,756.8% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,641,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $904,714,000 after purchasing an additional 10,632,735 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of several research reports. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Tuesday, April 9th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, TheStreet upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.66.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 2.5 %

Shares of MS traded up $2.15 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $89.14. 18,291,601 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,302,008. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.78. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week high of $95.57. The company has a market cap of $145.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.24, a PEG ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.43.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.72 by $0.30. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 10.36%. The company had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.42 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.70 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 6.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total transaction of $584,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 97,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,158,297.04. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total value of $584,920.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 97,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,158,297.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 50,000 shares of the company’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 $35,172,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 208,155 shares of company stock worth $18,149,314 in the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.