Citigroup Reiterates “Neutral” Rating for Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Citigroup reaffirmed their neutral rating on shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in a research note released on Wednesday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $130.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock, up from their previous price target of $125.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI reduced their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Bank of America reduced their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $120.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 14th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, April 14th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 10th. Eleven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $133.62.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $132.56 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $123.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $125.25. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $90.94 and a one year high of $142.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. The stock has a market cap of $212.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.29.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.98% and a net margin of 12.98%. The company had revenue of $17.74 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.02 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 17.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th were paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, April 30th. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.79%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 43.43%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, Director Robert H. Herz sold 800 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.32, for a total value of $95,456.00. Following the sale, the director now directly owns 96,760 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,545,403.20. The trade was a 0.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 10,068 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $111.65, for a total value of $1,124,092.20. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 199,274 shares in the company, valued at approximately $22,248,942.10. The trade was a 4.81% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 50,868 shares of company stock worth $6,019,548 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MS. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $1,910,200,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,740,149,000 after purchasing an additional 7,636,547 shares during the last quarter. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 44.8% during the 4th quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,740,051,000 after purchasing an additional 6,744,333 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter worth approximately $767,506,000. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during the 1st quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,990,030,000 after purchasing an additional 2,989,122 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.