First National Trust Co Has $3.24 Million Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

First National Trust Co grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 767 shares during the period. First National Trust Co’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,241,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MS. CGC Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5,200.0% in the fourth quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares during the last quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 77.3% during the third quarter. Glass Jacobson Investment Advisors llc now owns 328 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 143 shares during the last quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 123.2% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 220.6% during the third quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 311 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fortitude Family Office LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $39,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, April 18th. HSBC boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 price objective (down from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.30.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 26,655 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.19, for a total value of $2,324,049.45. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 286,835 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,009,143.65. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 26,655 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.19, for a total transaction of $2,324,049.45. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 286,835 shares in the company, valued at $25,009,143.65. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total value of $8,730,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 350,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $30,555,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 237,855 shares of company stock valued at $21,084,057. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock traded up $0.99 on Friday, reaching $93.64. 5,043,459 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,976,032. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The firm has a market cap of $152.32 billion, a PE ratio of 17.06, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.41. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $90.30 and its 200-day moving average is $85.87. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $69.42 and a one year high of $95.57.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.87% and a net margin of 9.57%. The firm had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.70 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.84 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 61.93%.

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.