Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) PT Raised to $98.00 at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) had its target price increased by stock analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $94.00 to $98.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “market perform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target would indicate a potential upside of 8.99% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also weighed in on MS. TheStreet raised Morgan Stanley from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $87.00 target price (down previously from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Oppenheimer reduced their target price on Morgan Stanley from $109.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 19th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $107.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Finally, Cfra lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Thirteen equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.13.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS traded up $0.78 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $89.92. The stock had a trading volume of 6,897,716 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,901,383. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a current ratio of 0.75. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $88.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.78. The stock has a market cap of $146.27 billion, a PE ratio of 17.36, a PEG 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.

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

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total transaction of $584,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 97,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,158,297.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 7,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $83.56, for a total transaction of $584,920.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 97,634 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,158,297.04. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 50,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.93, for a total value of $4,396,500.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now directly owns 400,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $35,172,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 208,155 shares of company stock valued at $18,149,314 in the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 18,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,543,000 after buying an additional 580 shares in the last quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.9% in the 3rd quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $849,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 16.2% in the 3rd 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 stake in Morgan Stanley by 17.9% in the 4th quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. now owns 917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $86,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CBOE Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 75.4% in the 3rd quarter. CBOE Vest Financial LLC now owns 104,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,495,000 after purchasing an additional 44,725 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other 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.