Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Shares Bought by Cambridge Trust Co.

Cambridge Trust Co. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.9% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. Cambridge Trust Co.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $502,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Boston Partners lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 7,151,492 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $672,969,000 after purchasing an additional 57,104 shares in the last quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 510.7% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 105,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,696,000 after buying an additional 88,053 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 115.0% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 223,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,305,000 after buying an additional 119,633 shares during the last quarter. PGGM Investments acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter worth approximately $926,000. Finally, Community Trust & Investment Co. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 8.1% in the first quarter. Community Trust & Investment Co. now owns 34,652 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,263,000 after buying an additional 2,592 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MS shares. JMP Securities restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, July 18th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. Cfra increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company downgraded Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $99.00 to $95.00 in a report on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $101.45.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total transaction of $797,775.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 87,119 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,266,848.03. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.37, for a total value of $797,775.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 87,119 shares in the company, valued at $9,266,848.03. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total value of $106,620.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 95,908 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,225,710.96. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 258,954 shares of company stock valued at $27,239,058. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS stock traded down $5.91 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $95.85. The stock had a trading volume of 11,120,672 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,699,997. The firm has a market capitalization of $155.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.46, a P/E/G ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.38. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week high of $109.11. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $99.71 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.32 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.90% and a net margin of 10.17%. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.24 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st will be given a $0.925 dividend. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.86%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.40%.

Morgan Stanley 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.