Hills Bank & Trust Co Has $713,000 Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Hills Bank & Trust Co cut its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.1% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 6,843 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 294 shares during the quarter. Hills Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $713,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 16.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 28,481,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,681,778,000 after buying an additional 3,981,528 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 600.8% during the 1st quarter. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado now owns 1,301,835 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $122,581,000 after acquiring an additional 1,116,058 shares during the period. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at $87,558,000. Bessemer Group Inc. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 433.4% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 779,451 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $73,392,000 after acquiring an additional 633,319 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth $43,850,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,488,718.71. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MS. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Hsbc Global Res raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Barclays raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. HSBC raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $109.24.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.5 %

MS opened at $116.86 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $71.65 and a fifty-two week high of $121.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. The company’s 50-day moving average is $107.02 and its 200 day moving average is $101.17. The firm has a market capitalization of $189.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.79, a PEG ratio of 1.10 and a beta of 1.36.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, October 31st will be paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.17%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 56.32%.

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.