Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Stock Rating Reaffirmed by Royal Bank of Canada

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)‘s stock had its “sector perform” rating reaffirmed by equities research analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $91.00 price objective on the financial services provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price target suggests a potential downside of 3.36% from the stock’s previous close.

MS has been the topic of several other research reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 9th. Oppenheimer dropped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $109.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 19th. TheStreet raised Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Barclays raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.45.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $94.16 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $153.98 billion, a PE ratio of 18.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 1.43. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $87.31 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $69.42 and a 12 month high of $95.57.

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

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total value of $584,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 97,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,158,297.04. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total transaction of $8,730,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 350,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,555,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total transaction of $584,920.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 97,634 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,158,297.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 208,155 shares of company stock valued at $18,149,314 in the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $956,566,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 125,756.8% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,641,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $904,714,000 after buying an additional 10,632,735 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth $477,765,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,451,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,585,561,000 after buying an additional 5,631,435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $512,867,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.