Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Receives $98.07 Average PT from Brokerages

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nineteen brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $98.07.

MS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Oppenheimer boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $91.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, April 18th. HSBC boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.1 %

MS opened at $93.86 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. The stock has a market cap of $152.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.10, a PEG ratio of 1.75 and a beta of 1.43. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $69.42 and a twelve month high of $95.57. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $89.41 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $85.26.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. The firm had revenue of $15.14 billion for 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 10.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.70 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.62%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 61.93%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total value of $393,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 93,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,140,842.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total value of $1,009,008.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 126,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,368,457.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 93,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,140,842.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 252,355 shares of company stock valued at $22,356,602 in the last quarter. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MS. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $958,105,000. Boston Partners purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at $477,765,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,451,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,585,561,000 after buying an additional 5,631,435 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $512,867,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,474,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,917,159,000 after buying an additional 4,098,577 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

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.