Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Receives $93.90 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) have received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the nineteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, six have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $94.45.

MS has been the topic of several research reports. Oppenheimer reduced their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $109.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $91.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday. TheStreet raised Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $94.16 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $69.42 and a twelve month high of $95.57. The company has a 50-day moving average of $87.31 and a 200-day moving average of $84.16. The firm has a market cap of $153.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.06. The company had revenue of $12.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.77 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 10.36%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.31 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 6.33 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, January 31st were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, January 30th. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 65.76%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.13, for a total value of $841,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 323,490 shares in the company, valued at approximately $27,215,213.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total transaction of $584,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 97,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,158,297.04. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.13, for a total value of $841,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 323,490 shares in the company, valued at $27,215,213.70. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 208,155 shares of company stock worth $18,149,314 in the last ninety days. 0.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $251,000. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $3,353,000. Livelsberger Financial Advisory purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $56,000. Cooksen Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $84,000. Finally, B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 33,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,097,000 after purchasing an additional 4,564 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.