Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Given New $108.00 Price Target at Cfra

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) had its target price hoisted by Cfra from $97.00 to $108.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. Cfra currently has a buy rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on MS. Royal Bank of Canada restated a sector perform rating and issued a $91.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, March 27th. Oppenheimer reduced their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $109.00 to $97.00 and set an outperform rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. TheStreet upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, January 17th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $95.66.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $89.13 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $144.97 billion, a PE ratio of 17.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $88.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.78. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $69.42 and a 1 year high of $95.57.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.72 by $0.30. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 10.36%. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.42 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.70 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 6.36 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 50,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.93, for a total transaction of $4,396,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 400,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,172,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.93, for a total transaction of $4,396,500.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 400,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $35,172,000. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 97,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,158,297.04. 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. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 18,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,543,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.9% during the third quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $849,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 16.2% in the third quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 12,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after acquiring an additional 1,785 shares in the last quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 17.9% in the fourth quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $86,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CBOE Vest Financial LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 75.4% during the 3rd quarter. CBOE Vest Financial LLC now owns 104,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,495,000 after acquiring an additional 44,725 shares in 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.