Wells Fargo & Company Issues Pessimistic Forecast for Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Stock Price

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) had its price objective lowered by Wells Fargo & Company from $130.00 to $120.00 in a report published on Monday,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also commented on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $129.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $130.50.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS opened at $107.87 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $173.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $89.67 and a 12 month high of $142.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $120.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $124.24.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, May 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.43%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 43.43%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. This represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was 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. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 40,665 shares of company stock worth $5,288,079. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 474.3% in the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,203,000 after acquiring an additional 17,454 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,159,000 after purchasing an additional 36,120 shares during the period. Matrix Trust Co bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $2,040,000. Johnson & White Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $597,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 75.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,493,000 after buying an additional 3,369,520 shares in 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.