Whittier Trust Co. Acquires 436 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Whittier Trust Co. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 436 shares during the quarter. Whittier Trust Co.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,210,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MS. Peoples Bank KS purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Curio Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Stonebridge Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Heck Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $43,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group decreased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Citigroup upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.60.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS opened at $120.26 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $85.01 and a fifty-two week high of $142.03. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $130.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $122.81. The stock has a market cap of $193.96 billion, a PE ratio of 15.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

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.