American Trust Sells 528 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

American Trust lowered its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 18.2% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 2,373 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 528 shares during the quarter. American Trust’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $223,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Venturi Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,553 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $994,000 after acquiring an additional 112 shares during the last quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH now owns 3,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.6% during the 1st quarter. Advisory Alpha LLC now owns 2,644 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $249,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.1% during the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 1,283 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $121,000 after acquiring an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 9.9% during the 1st quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO now owns 1,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $126,000 after acquiring an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total value of $106,620.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,225,710.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total value of $106,620.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,225,710.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total value of $368,375.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at $4,549,326. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 258,954 shares of company stock worth $27,239,058 over the last ninety days. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 5.8 %

Shares of MS stock traded down $5.91 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $95.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 11,120,672 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,699,997. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $69.42 and a one year high of $109.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $155.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $99.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.67.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.90% and a net margin of 10.17%. The company had revenue of $15.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.86%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 67.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer cut Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $121.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.45.

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.