CNB Bank Reduces Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

CNB Bank reduced its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 4,514 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 192 shares during the quarter. CNB Bank’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $568,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MS. Peoples Bank KS purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 138.1% during the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp grew its holdings 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 valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 191 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on MS. Bank of America raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $146.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 7th. HSBC lowered Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $126.53.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS stock opened at $136.22 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $219.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.70, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.36. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $83.09 and a 12-month high of $136.39. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $128.74 and a 200-day moving average of $113.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 7.39 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio 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.