Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) PT Raised to $105.00

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) had its price objective upped by Oppenheimer from $101.00 to $105.00 in a research note published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an outperform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. HSBC upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the company a hold rating in a research report on Friday, April 19th. TheStreet raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a neutral rating and set a $87.00 price target (down from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $98.30.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.1 %

MS stock opened at $93.64 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $90.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $85.76. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $69.42 and a fifty-two week high of $95.57. The firm has a market cap of $152.32 billion, a PE ratio of 17.06, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The business’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.70 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 61.93%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total value of $8,730,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 350,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,555,000. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, insider Charles Aubrey Smith III sold 11,200 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $90.09, for a total transaction of $1,009,008.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 126,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,368,457.10. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total value of $8,730,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chairman now owns 350,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,555,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 237,855 shares of company stock worth $21,084,057 over the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MS. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $958,105,000. Boston Partners purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter worth $477,765,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,451,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,585,561,000 after buying an additional 5,631,435 shares in the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $512,867,000. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,474,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,917,159,000 after acquiring an additional 4,098,577 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by 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.