FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Increases Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 117 shares during the period. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MS. West Paces Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 10.1% in the 1st quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 1,283 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $121,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Indiana Trust & Investment Management CO increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 9.9% in 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 period. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. Exencial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,024 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $375,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Pinebridge Investments L.P. now owns 3,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. Finally, M&R Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 6.7% in the 4th quarter. M&R Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,020 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $188,000 after buying an additional 126 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on MS shares. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. Cfra increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, HSBC upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.30.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $99.65 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $161.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.15, a P/E/G ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.38. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $69.42 and a 12 month high of $103.25. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $96.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $91.86. 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 (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.88% and a net margin of 9.57%. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.70 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.82 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th were given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total value of $9,021,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 414,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Tuesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $99.61, for a total transaction of $692,687.94. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 46,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,609,353.14. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.21, for a total value of $9,021,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 414,870 shares in the company, valued at approximately $37,425,422.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 118,154 shares of company stock worth $10,722,696. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.