Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Price Target Raised to $129.00

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) had its target price lifted by research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $124.00 to $129.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 3.45% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citigroup dropped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $132.33.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $124.70 on Tuesday. 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 has a one year low of $85.01 and a one year high of $142.03. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $130.56 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $123.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $201.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business’s revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Peoples Bank KS bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Minot DeBlois Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. IAG Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Curio Wealth LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Ancora Advisors LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 104.7% in the fourth quarter. Ancora Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $33,000 after purchasing an additional 135 shares during 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.