Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp Cuts Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp lessened its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 170,657 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,745 shares during the quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $21,455,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of MS. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 14,145 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,778,000 after buying an additional 801 shares during the last quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 26.5% in the 4th quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 238,484 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,982,000 after acquiring an additional 50,000 shares during the last quarter. Hurley Capital LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,955,000. Payden & Rygel boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 39.5% during the 4th quarter. Payden & Rygel now owns 183,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $23,070,000 after purchasing an additional 52,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedbush Securities Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 97.7% in the 4th quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 6,603 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $830,000 after purchasing an additional 3,263 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 7.6 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $99.75 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company has a fifty day moving average of $127.06 and a 200 day moving average of $124.25. The company has a market capitalization of $160.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $85.01 and a fifty-two week high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on MS. Barclays increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $142.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, March 28th. Finally, Bank of America dropped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.87.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.