Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) PT Raised to $118.00 at BMO Capital Markets

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) had its target price boosted by equities researchers at BMO Capital Markets from $115.00 to $118.00 in a research report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 30.07% from the company’s current price.

MS has been the topic of a number of other reports. Oppenheimer upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $101.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Tuesday, April 9th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 2nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Thirteen research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.79.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Morgan Stanley stock traded up $0.64 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $90.72. The company had a trading volume of 668,671 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,831,378. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $69.42 and a 12-month high of $95.57. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $88.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.81. 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 capitalization of $147.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.44, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.43.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. The company had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 9.57% and a return on equity of 10.87%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.70 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.36 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $84.13, for a total value of $841,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 323,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,215,213.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.13, for a total value of $841,300.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 323,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $27,215,213.70. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 26,655 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.19, for a total transaction of $2,324,049.45. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 286,835 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $25,009,143.65. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 201,155 shares of company stock worth $17,564,394. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MS. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.2% in the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 18,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,543,000 after buying an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.9% during the third quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $849,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 16.2% in the third quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 12,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,046,000 after purchasing an additional 1,785 shares in the last quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.9% during the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $86,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CBOE Vest Financial LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 75.4% during the 3rd quarter. CBOE Vest Financial LLC now owns 104,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,495,000 after purchasing an additional 44,725 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.