First County Bank CT Has $659,000 Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

First County Bank CT lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 23.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,240 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 980 shares during the quarter. First County Bank CT’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $659,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MS. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.6% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 644,671 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $62,656,000 after purchasing an additional 22,482 shares during the period. Savant Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% during the second quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 32,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,144,000 after purchasing an additional 357 shares during the period. Advisor OS LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth $221,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 2,051.8% in the 2nd quarter. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC now owns 143,137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,911,000 after purchasing an additional 136,485 shares during the period. Finally, Strategic Financial Concepts LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at $51,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS traded down $2.43 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $126.21. 4,584,563 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,018,250. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $127.74 and a 200-day moving average of $111.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $83.09 and a one year high of $136.24. The firm has a market cap of $203.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.21, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.36.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 7.33 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.93%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.32%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MS shares. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $125.80.

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.