Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. Buys 312 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Pinnacle Bancorp Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,448 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 312 shares during the period. Pinnacle Bancorp Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $508,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at approximately $108,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 7.8% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 306,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $26,801,000 after purchasing an additional 22,095 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 61.9% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 6,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $608,000 after buying an additional 2,660 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 64.5% during the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 17,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,492,000 after buying an additional 6,696 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 66.9% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 626 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE:MS traded up $0.74 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $93.21. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,598,395 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,598,790. The firm has a market capitalization of $152.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.03, a PEG ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $88.26 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.43. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $69.42 and a 1 year high of $95.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.07 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $12.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.77 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 10.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, January 31st were paid a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 65.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total value of $393,345.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 93,134 shares in the company, valued at $8,140,842.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total transaction of $393,345.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 93,134 shares in the company, valued at $8,140,842.94. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.13, for a total transaction of $841,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 323,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,215,213.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 208,155 shares of company stock worth $18,149,314. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $91.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. TheStreet raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $95.48.

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.