First National Trust Co Lowers Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

First National Trust Co decreased its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.4% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,346 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 495 shares during the quarter. First National Trust Co’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,435,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MS. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 8.1% in the 4th quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC now owns 373,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,846,000 after purchasing an additional 27,845 shares during the period. Evercore Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,274,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $118,857,000 after purchasing an additional 48,812 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,987,524 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $185,337,000 after purchasing an additional 9,260 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 247.2% in the 4th quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 22,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,083,000 after purchasing an additional 15,903 shares during the period. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,059,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $98,787,000 after purchasing an additional 23,991 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. UBS Group increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, July 18th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Oppenheimer cut Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $101.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.54, for a total value of $4,261,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 442,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,146,293.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.54, for a total value of $4,261,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 442,522 shares in the company, valued at approximately $47,146,293.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $100.15 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $162.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.24, a PEG ratio of 1.06 and a beta of 1.38. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $69.42 and a fifty-two week high of $109.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $100.73 and a 200 day moving average of $95.75.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.32 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 10.17%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.69%. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 67.40%.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.