Morgan Stanley’s (MS) “Neutral” Rating Reiterated at The Goldman Sachs Group

The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm currently has a $105.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other research firms have also weighed in on MS. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $105.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Morgan Stanley from an equal weight rating to an underweight rating and decreased their target price for the company from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. JMP Securities restated a market perform rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, July 18th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, fourteen have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $101.73.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.4 %

MS opened at $96.64 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $100.58 and a 200 day simple moving average of $96.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a current ratio of 0.78 and a quick ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $69.42 and a fifty-two week high of $109.11. The company has a market cap of $157.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.99 and a beta of 1.37.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.17. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 11.85% and a net margin of 10.17%. The business had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.32 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.24 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.83%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 67.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 40,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.54, for a total transaction of $4,261,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 442,522 shares in the company, valued at $47,146,293.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $106.62, for a total value of $106,620.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 95,908 shares in the company, valued at $10,225,710.96. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 40,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.54, for a total transaction of $4,261,600.00. Following the sale, the insider now owns 442,522 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $47,146,293.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370 over the last quarter. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MS. Wellington Management Group LLP raised 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 valued at $3,585,561,000 after acquiring an additional 5,631,435 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 16.3% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 28,481,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,681,778,000 after purchasing an additional 3,981,528 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,228,334 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,886,292,000 after purchasing an additional 495,055 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.4% during the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 12,875,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,251,387,000 after purchasing an additional 303,654 shares during the period. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% during the second quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,597,493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,029,970,000 after buying an additional 212,551 shares in the last quarter. 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.