Stock Traders Purchase Large Volume of Morgan Stanley Call Options (NYSE:MS)

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) was the target of some unusual options trading activity on Thursday. Investors acquired 37,411 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 39% compared to the average volume of 26,873 call options.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $217,000. Veracity Capital LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 20.2% during the 4th quarter. Veracity Capital LLC now owns 2,702 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $340,000 after purchasing an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. Donoghue Forlines LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,544,000. Baron Silver Stevens Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $202,000. Finally, Avior Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.7% during the fourth quarter. Avior Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,802 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,107,000 after purchasing an additional 395 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $129.40.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.5 %

Morgan Stanley stock traded up $1.97 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $137.78. The stock had a trading volume of 12,389,736 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,932,170. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $83.09 and a 52 week high of $138.08. The company has a market cap of $221.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.97, a PEG ratio of 0.97 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $129.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $113.58.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. The company had revenue of $15.38 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.27 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 7.39 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.32%.

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.