Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Sold by Nixon Peabody Trust Co.

Nixon Peabody Trust Co. lowered its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 111,708 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,322 shares during the quarter. Morgan Stanley makes up approximately 1.5% of Nixon Peabody Trust Co.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Nixon Peabody Trust Co.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $19,832,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,253,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,940 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 27,321,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,343,523,000 after purchasing an additional 167,487 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.9% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,494,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,893,590,000 after purchasing an additional 448,960 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.1% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,260,650 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,267,847,000 after purchasing an additional 822,120 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.8% in the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,712,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,543,831,000 after purchasing an additional 354,871 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

Here are the key news stories impacting Morgan Stanley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Seeking Alpha flagged that Morgan Stanley was upgraded to Buy after its strong first-quarter results, reinforcing the view that recent earnings momentum is still supporting the stock. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage also noted that Morgan Stanley raised its price target on Take-Two Interactive (TTWO) ahead of the GTA VI release, underscoring continued active equity-research influence and a generally constructive tone from the bank’s analysts. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s own recent stock commentary said MS has delivered a strong one-year rally, with investors still debating valuation versus earnings power rather than reacting to any single new company-specific surprise. Article Title

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total transaction of $2,779,935.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 365,802 shares in the company, valued at $69,224,370.48. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the transaction, the insider owned 282,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,209,159.78. This trade represents a 15.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE MS opened at $201.18 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $123.88 and a 52 week high of $203.09. The stock has a market capitalization of $317.32 billion, a PE ratio of 18.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $179.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $176.01.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The company had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 36.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MS. Evercore lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Wolfe Research dropped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.95.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1935 by Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley, the company provides a broad range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individual investors. Leadership has been guided by a senior executive team and board of directors; James P. Gorman has served as the company’s chief executive and chairman in recent years.

The firm’s primary business activities are organized around three principal businesses: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management.