Morgan Stanley Target of Unusually High Options Trading (NYSE:MS)

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) was the recipient of unusually large options trading activity on Monday. Traders bought 48,128 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 9% compared to the average volume of 44,333 call options.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total transaction of $393,345.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 93,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,140,842.94. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total transaction of $393,345.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 93,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,140,842.94. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 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. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 208,155 shares of company stock worth $18,149,314. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $956,566,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 125,756.8% during the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,641,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $904,714,000 after buying an additional 10,632,735 shares during the last quarter. Boston Partners bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the third quarter valued at approximately $477,765,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 17.2% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,451,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,585,561,000 after buying an additional 5,631,435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $512,867,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MS. UBS Group lifted their price target 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. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 4th. Barclays increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $116.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Friday, April 5th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $91.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.48.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $86.94 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $141.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.82, a P/E/G ratio of 1.74 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 firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $88.59 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.13 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $12.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $12.77 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.31 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.36 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.