Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. Cuts Stock Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co. cut its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 17.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 3,914 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 852 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia Trust Co.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $492,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MS. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,159,000 after buying an additional 36,120 shares in the last quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 4,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $461,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC now owns 35,013 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,650,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 45.0% during the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 15,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,570,000 after purchasing an additional 4,674 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 474.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,203,000 after buying an additional 17,454 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 40,665 shares of company stock valued at $5,288,079. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. Bank of America lowered their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Erste Group Bank lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.50.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $109.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $175.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $119.53 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.31. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $90.36 and a one year high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.02 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.39%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.43%.

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.