Commerce Bank Sells 5,790 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Commerce Bank reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 998,932 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,790 shares during the period. Commerce Bank owned 0.06% of Morgan Stanley worth $93,150,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. US Bancorp DE increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 766,531 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $71,479,000 after buying an additional 8,593 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 177,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,568,000 after purchasing an additional 7,796 shares in the last quarter. Moreno Evelyn V acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,995,000. Rosenbaum Jay D. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $355,000. Finally, Union Savings Bank increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 62.5% during the fourth quarter. Union Savings Bank now owns 390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. TheStreet raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. HSBC raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.30.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE MS traded down $2.02 on Thursday, reaching $98.72. The stock had a trading volume of 2,916,085 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,110,174. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $69.42 and a 1-year high of $103.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $160.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $93.35 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.31.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.88%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.70 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.83 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total transaction of $9,021,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 414,870 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total transaction of $9,021,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 414,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.61, for a total value of $692,687.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 46,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,609,353.14. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 118,154 shares of company stock valued at $10,722,696 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.