Grove Bank & Trust Acquires 398 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Grove Bank & Trust boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,386 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 398 shares during the quarter. Grove Bank & Trust’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $803,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Peoples Bank KS purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 138.1% in the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 174 shares during the period. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 115.1% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 191 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on MS. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. HSBC downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.40.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of MS stock opened at $137.78 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $83.09 and a fifty-two week high of $138.08. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $129.05 and a 200 day moving average price of $113.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $221.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.36. 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.32%.

About Morgan Stanley

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.