Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) PT Raised to $101.00 at Oppenheimer

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) had its price objective upped by investment analysts at Oppenheimer from $97.00 to $101.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Oppenheimer’s price objective points to a potential upside of 12.32% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts also recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $94.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $89.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, December 19th. Barclays upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 price objective (down from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, HSBC increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $96.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 28th. Thirteen analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $96.13.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of MS traded up $0.78 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $89.92. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 6,897,716 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,901,383. The firm has a market cap of $146.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.43. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $69.42 and a 1-year high of $95.57. The company has a quick ratio of 0.75, a current ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. The company has a 50 day moving average of $88.65 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.78.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.36% and a net margin of 9.49%. The firm had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.42 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.70 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 6.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total value of $584,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 97,634 shares in the company, valued at $8,158,297.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total value of $584,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 97,634 shares in the company, valued at $8,158,297.04. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total value of $8,730,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now owns 350,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $30,555,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 208,155 shares of company stock worth $18,149,314. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Fairfield Bush & CO. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth about $108,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 7.8% during the first quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc. now owns 306,637 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $26,801,000 after buying an additional 22,095 shares during the last quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 61.9% during the first quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 6,957 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $608,000 after buying an additional 2,660 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 64.5% during the first quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 17,070 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,492,000 after buying an additional 6,696 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Covestor Ltd boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 66.9% during the first quarter. Covestor Ltd now owns 626 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 251 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

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.