Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Given Market Perform Rating at JMP Securities

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reaffirmed by stock analysts at JMP Securities in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on MS. Evercore ISI cut their target price on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Bank of America reduced their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $129.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Citigroup cut their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, March 24th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $142.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $129.87.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $108.04 on Monday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $122.52 and its 200-day moving average price is $124.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $85.49 and a 52-week high of $142.03. The company has a market capitalization of $174.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Friday, April 11th. The financial services provider reported $2.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.21 by $0.39. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business had revenue of $17.74 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.81 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.02 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 474.3% during the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,203,000 after buying an additional 17,454 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,159,000 after acquiring an additional 36,120 shares during the period. Matrix Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,040,000. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $597,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 75.2% in the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $881,493,000 after purchasing an additional 3,369,520 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

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.