1,648 Shares in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Purchased by First National Corp MA ADV

First National Corp MA ADV bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 1,648 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MS. AMF Tjanstepension AB boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 256,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,755,000 after purchasing an additional 25,179 shares in the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the third quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 7,028 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $733,000 after buying an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 322.9% in the third quarter. Livforsakringsbolaget Skandia Omsesidigt now owns 9,143 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $953,000 after buying an additional 6,981 shares in the last quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.0% during the third quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 2,926 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $305,000 after buying an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silverlake Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the third quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $139.88 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $83.09 and a 52 week high of $142.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The stock has a market cap of $225.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.62, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $130.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $117.35.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.65%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Hsbc Global Res cut Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.