Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Price Target Cut to $138.00 by Analysts at Evercore ISI

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) had its price objective reduced by research analysts at Evercore ISI from $150.00 to $138.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “outperform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Evercore ISI’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 19.96% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on MS. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Citigroup dropped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday, March 24th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $124.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $142.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.73.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 1.4 %

NYSE MS traded down $1.63 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $115.04. 1,078,118 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,511,817. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $85.01 and a one year high of $142.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The company’s 50-day moving average is $129.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.11. The company has a market capitalization of $185.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction 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 represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MS. First Financial Bank Trust Division boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.3% during the first quarter. First Financial Bank Trust Division now owns 3,641 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $425,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the period. Mascagni Wealth Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $82,000. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $34,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $46,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at about $129,341,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Morgan Stanley

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.