Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seventeen analysts that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $131.27.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MS shares. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a research report on Friday, November 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, 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 value of $2,380,175.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of MS. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 115.9% during the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 17,619 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,713,000 after acquiring an additional 9,459 shares during the last quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 26.7% in the 2nd quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 14,790 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,437,000 after purchasing an additional 3,116 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 44.9% during the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 11,242 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,093,000 after purchasing an additional 3,484 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.5% during the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 89,062 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,656,000 after purchasing an additional 3,874 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 526,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $51,137,000 after buying an additional 8,260 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $137.85 on Monday. 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 12-month low of $83.09 and a 12-month high of $139.04. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $129.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $114.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.36.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.49 EPS 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 given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.68%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 46.60%.

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.