Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp Boosts Holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 152,881 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,463 shares during the quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $14,256,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MS. CGC Financial Services LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 5,200.0% in the fourth quarter. CGC Financial Services LLC now owns 265 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. First United Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $34,000. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 123.2% during the third quarter. VisionPoint Advisory Group LLC now owns 442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Union Savings Bank grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 62.5% during the fourth quarter. Union Savings Bank now owns 390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Front Row Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 220.6% in the 3rd quarter. Front Row Advisors LLC now owns 452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 311 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total transaction of $1,009,008.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 126,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,368,457.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 6,954 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $99.61, for a total transaction of $692,687.94. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 46,274 shares in the company, valued at $4,609,353.14. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total transaction of $1,009,008.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 126,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,368,457.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 118,154 shares of company stock valued at $10,722,696 over the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $101.00 to $105.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Bank of America upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.30.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.4 %

MS traded down $0.39 on Monday, reaching $97.45. 5,670,552 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,971,919. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $69.42 and a twelve month high of $103.25. The company’s 50 day moving average is $94.49 and its 200-day moving average is $89.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.97, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $158.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.62, a PEG ratio of 1.19 and a beta of 1.38.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.88%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.70 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 6.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Investors of record on Tuesday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.93%.

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.