Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Receives $173.38 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eighteen research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, eight have given a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $173.3846.

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $122.00 to $157.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Dbs Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Barclays raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $164.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total transaction of $16,434,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer owned 574,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $94,493,199.24. The trade was a 14.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of MS. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 9.5% in the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 42,716 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,790,000 after buying an additional 3,718 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 12.3% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 9,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,482,000 after acquiring an additional 1,022 shares during the last quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 743,800 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $118,234,000 after purchasing an additional 5,662 shares in the last quarter. Groupama Asset Managment boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 9.5% during the 3rd quarter. Groupama Asset Managment now owns 309,042 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $49,125,000 after purchasing an additional 26,754 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 313.2% during the third quarter. Polar Asset Management Partners Inc. now owns 31,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,991,000 after purchasing an additional 23,800 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS opened at $178.57 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $164.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $151.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $283.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.32, a P/E/G ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.22. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $94.33 and a 52-week high of $181.98.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.07 by $0.73. The firm had revenue of $17.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.40%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 18.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.88 earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

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.