Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the nineteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $94.45.

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MS. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $109.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 19th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 19th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 4th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and set a $87.00 target price (down previously from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated a “market perform” rating and set a $91.00 target price (down previously from $102.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, January 17th.

Insider Transactions 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 sale, the chairman now directly owns 350,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,555,000. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total transaction of $8,730,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 350,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,555,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 50,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 25th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.93, for a total transaction of $4,396,500.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 400,000 shares in the company, valued at $35,172,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 208,155 shares of company stock worth $18,149,314 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. BlackRock Inc. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.0% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 90,635,593 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,740,280,000 after acquiring an additional 3,480,402 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,451,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,585,561,000 after acquiring an additional 5,631,435 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 24,499,542 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,284,674,000 after purchasing an additional 1,865,645 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,474,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,917,159,000 after purchasing an additional 4,098,577 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,250,725 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,888,380,000 after purchasing an additional 517,446 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of MS stock opened at $93.52 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $69.42 and a 1 year high of $95.57. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $87.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75. The company has a market cap of $152.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.09, a PEG ratio of 1.91 and a beta of 1.43.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.07 by $0.06. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.49% and a return on equity of 10.36%. The firm had revenue of $12.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.31 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 6.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, January 31st were issued a $0.85 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, January 30th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.64%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.76%.

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.