Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Price Target Increased to $98.00 by Analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) had its target price increased by Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $94.00 to $98.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a market perform rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating and set a $91.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, March 27th. Barclays lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $116.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a report on Tuesday, January 2nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. UBS Group raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 9th. Finally, TheStreet raised Morgan Stanley from a c+ rating to a b rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $96.13.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $90.08 on Wednesday. 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 market cap of $146.53 billion, a PE ratio of 17.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.43. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $88.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.81. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. The business 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%. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.70 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.36 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a $0.85 dividend. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, April 29th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 65.76%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.13, for a total transaction of $841,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 323,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,215,213.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 10,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Friday, January 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.13, for a total transaction of $841,300.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 323,490 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $27,215,213.70. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total value of $393,345.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 93,134 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,140,842.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 201,155 shares of company stock worth $17,564,394. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.2% during the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 18,896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,543,000 after purchasing an additional 580 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Dakota Wealth Management lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 16.2% during the third quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 12,803 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,046,000 after purchasing an additional 1,785 shares during the last quarter. Hartford Financial Management Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 17.9% during the fourth 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 lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 44,725 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

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.