Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Stock Position Increased by Trust Co. of Vermont

Trust Co. of Vermont lifted its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.8% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,037 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 637 shares during the period. Trust Co. of Vermont’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,638,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $28,000. Garde Capital Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter worth $30,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 104.7% in the 4th quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after buying an additional 135 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total value of $1,124,092.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 199,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $22,248,942.10. The trade was a 4.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total value of $4,800,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 335,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,291,800. This represents a 10.64% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548 over the last three months. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Saturday, May 24th. Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $130.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 14th. Finally, JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, April 14th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $133.62.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $140.64 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $225.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.51, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.29. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $126.50 and a 200-day simple moving average of $125.54. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $90.94 and a 52-week high of $142.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. The firm had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.98% and a return on equity of 14.98%. The company’s revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.02 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.43%.

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.