Parkside Financial Bank & Trust Purchases 338 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 13,906 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,748,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. AMF Tjanstepension AB increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 10.9% in the third quarter. AMF Tjanstepension AB now owns 256,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,755,000 after buying an additional 25,179 shares in the last quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 5.1% in the third quarter. Pallas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 2,967 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $309,000 after buying an additional 145 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 11.5% in the third quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,891 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $614,000 after buying an additional 606 shares in the last quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 4.8% in the third quarter. Oak Harvest Investment Services now owns 141,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $14,699,000 after buying an additional 6,473 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Advocates Investment Management purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter worth about $274,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MS. Bank of America lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research note on Friday, November 15th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS opened at $129.23 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $132.80 and a 200 day moving average of $120.78. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $84.43 and a 52-week high of $142.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The stock has a market cap of $208.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.28, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.37.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend 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.