Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Receives $101.73 Average Price Target from Analysts

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) has received an average rating of “Hold” from the twenty brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have issued a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $101.73.

MS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $98.00 to $105.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, July 18th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 18th. Oppenheimer cut Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $105.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Tuesday, September 10th.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total transaction of $21,012,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 150,000 shares in the company, valued at $15,759,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total value of $368,375.00. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $4,549,326. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 200,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.06, for a total transaction of $21,012,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 150,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $15,759,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 252,000 shares of company stock valued at $26,546,370 over the last quarter. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC now owns 373,686 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,846,000 after acquiring an additional 27,845 shares during the last quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Evercore Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,274,605 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $118,857,000 after purchasing an additional 48,812 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 1,987,524 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $185,337,000 after buying an additional 9,260 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 247.2% during the fourth quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 22,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,083,000 after buying an additional 15,903 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Artisan Partners Limited Partnership grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Artisan Partners Limited Partnership now owns 1,059,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $98,787,000 after buying an additional 23,991 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $102.47 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $69.42 and a one year high of $109.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $166.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.66, a PEG ratio of 1.00 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $100.29 and a 200-day simple moving average of $96.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, July 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.40%.

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.