Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the seventeen analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $131.27.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on MS. Hsbc Global Res cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Bank of America raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 21st.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,845,895,000 after buying an additional 696,646 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,844,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,240,089,000 after buying an additional 604,024 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,213,599,000 after acquiring an additional 2,725,335 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,833,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,870,683,000 after acquiring an additional 428,956 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors increased its position in 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 worth $2,740,051,000 after acquiring an additional 6,744,333 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS opened at $140.66 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $84.43 and a 52-week high of $142.03. The company has a 50 day moving average of $131.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $118.93. The company has a market cap of $226.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.71, a P/E/G ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

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.