Analysts Set Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Price Target at $132.46

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seventeen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $132.46.

MS has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Citigroup dropped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, March 24th. JMP Securities reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $122.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total value of $1,124,092.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 199,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,248,942.10. The trade was a 4.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 40,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $120.00, for a total transaction of $4,800,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 335,765 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $40,291,800. This represents a 10.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,868 shares of company stock valued at $6,019,548 over the last three months. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Norges Bank bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $1,910,200,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,740,149,000 after acquiring an additional 7,636,547 shares in the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 44.8% during the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,740,051,000 after acquiring an additional 6,744,333 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at about $767,506,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,990,030,000 after acquiring an additional 2,989,122 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 2.4%

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $129.15 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $117.21 and its 200-day moving average price is $125.46. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $90.94 and a 1 year high of $142.03. The stock has a market cap of $207.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.27, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The company had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.02 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.86%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.43%.

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.