Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Price Target Raised to $140.00

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) had its price target upped by UBS Group from $130.00 to $140.00 in a report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on MS. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, January 13th. Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.1 %

MS opened at $137.51 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $129.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $114.45. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $83.09 and a fifty-two week high of $138.38. The company has a market cap of $221.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.22 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.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.49 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st will be given a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.60%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,240,729 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,621,140,000 after acquiring an additional 269,633 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,404,981 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,335,495,000 after purchasing an additional 590,872 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 10,597,493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,029,970,000 after purchasing an additional 212,551 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 8,454,177 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,263,000 after buying an additional 385,780 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 75.2% during the 3rd 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 hedge funds and other 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.