CENTRAL TRUST Co Sells 613 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

CENTRAL TRUST Co lowered its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 31,061 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 613 shares during the period. CENTRAL TRUST Co’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,375,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MS. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,740,149,000 after acquiring an additional 7,636,547 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,990,030,000 after purchasing an additional 2,989,122 shares in the last quarter. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at $343,236,000. Finally, Axiom Investors LLC DE lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 99.9% during the 1st quarter. Axiom Investors LLC DE now owns 3,111,979 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $363,075,000 after purchasing an additional 1,555,015 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on MS. Royal Bank Of Canada lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $171.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $157.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $168.23.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total value of $16,434,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 574,986 shares in the company, valued at approximately $94,493,199.24. This represents a 14.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $166.41 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $94.33 and a 1 year high of $167.13. The firm has a market cap of $264.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.07, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.33. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $158.75 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $144.13.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.73. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.55%. The firm had revenue of $18.22 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.88 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 31st. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 41.03%.

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.