Webster Bank N. A. Purchases 976 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Webster Bank N. A. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 29.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 4,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 976 shares during the quarter. Webster Bank N. A.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $543,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Peoples Bank KS purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. lifted its stake in 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 during the last quarter. Capital Performance Advisors LLP purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 115.1% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Citigroup boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Eleven 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 company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.27.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $137.85 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $129.48 and a 200 day moving average of $115.04. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $83.09 and a 52 week high of $139.04. The company has a market cap of $222.09 billion, a PE ratio of 17.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.