Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Rating) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation, eight have given a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $97.42.

A number of analysts have commented on MS shares. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to an “underperform” rating and set a $92.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, January 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 6th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $125.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $90.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, January 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $90.00 in a report on Wednesday, January 18th.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $87.01 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $95.47 and a 200-day moving average of $88.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $146.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.57. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $72.05 and a twelve month high of $100.99.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 17th. The financial services provider reported $1.31 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.25 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $12.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.16 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 16.73% and a return on equity of 12.06%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.21 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.775 per share. This represents a $3.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 50.49%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CEO James P. Gorman sold 250,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.93, for a total transaction of $24,232,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,112,348 shares in the company, valued at $107,819,891.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO James P. Gorman sold 250,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.93, for a total transaction of $24,232,500.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,112,348 shares in the company, valued at $107,819,891.64. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Alistair Darling sold 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $94.70, for a total value of $189,400.00. Following the sale, the director now owns 34,465 shares in the company, valued at $3,263,835.50. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 341,699 shares of company stock valued at $33,143,046 over the last three months. 0.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MS. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the first quarter worth approximately $108,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 7.8% in the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 306,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,801,000 after buying an additional 22,095 shares in the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 61.9% in the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 6,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $608,000 after buying an additional 2,660 shares in the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 64.5% in the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 17,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,492,000 after buying an additional 6,696 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 66.9% in the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 626 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 251 shares in the last quarter. 83.48% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Morgan Stanley

(Get Rating)

Morgan Stanley operates as a global financial services company. The firm provides investment banking products and services to its clients and customers including corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. It operates through the following segments: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management.