Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Receives $98.07 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) has received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nineteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $98.07.

Several analysts have recently weighed in on MS shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. HSBC increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. TheStreet upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 17th. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total value of $393,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 93,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,140,842.94. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total transaction of $393,345.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 93,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,140,842.94. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total transaction of $1,009,008.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 126,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,368,457.10. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 302,355 shares of company stock valued at $26,753,102 over the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MS. RVW Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the third quarter worth about $27,000. Granite Bay Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $463,000. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 62.9% during the third quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 5,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $455,000 after purchasing an additional 2,152 shares in the last quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 810.8% in the third quarter. Janiczek Wealth Management LLC now owns 337 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HB Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.0% in the third quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 39,872 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,256,000 after buying an additional 2,249 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.6 %

MS stock opened at $92.10 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. The firm has a market cap of $149.81 billion, a PE ratio of 16.78, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.43. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $69.42 and a 1 year high of $95.57. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $85.10.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.87% and a net margin of 9.57%. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.70 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 61.93%.

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.