Analysts Set Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Price Target at $129.40

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating on the company. The average twelve-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $131.27.

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Peoples Bank KS bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the third quarter worth approximately $26,000. Rakuten Securities Inc. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 138.1% in the 3rd quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 300 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 174 shares in the last quarter. Heck Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Finally, Capital Performance Advisors LLP bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $137.85 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $129.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $114.96. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $83.09 and a twelve month high of $139.04. The stock has a market cap of $222.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.36.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

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.