Somerset Trust Co Buys 503 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Somerset Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,422 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 503 shares during the quarter. Somerset Trust Co’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,939,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,240,729 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,621,140,000 after buying an additional 269,633 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,404,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,335,495,000 after acquiring an additional 590,872 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,597,493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,029,970,000 after acquiring an additional 212,551 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,454,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $881,263,000 after purchasing an additional 385,780 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 75.2% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,493,000 after purchasing an additional 3,369,520 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on MS shares. Bank of America increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.40.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.5 %

MS stock opened at $137.78 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $128.88 and a 200-day moving average of $113.31. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $83.09 and a fifty-two week high of $138.08. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.97, a P/E/G ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. The company had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.39 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

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.