Morgan Stanley’s (MS) “Market Perform” Rating Reaffirmed at JMP Securities

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)‘s stock had its “market perform” rating reissued by investment analysts at JMP Securities in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports.

Several other analysts also recently weighed in on MS. Jefferies Financial Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Bank of America lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $106.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Cfra lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 9th. Thirteen investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.90.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $90.66 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $147.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 1.43. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $69.42 and a 12-month high of $95.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.75 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $88.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.92.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.69 by $0.33. The business had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.87% and a net margin of 9.57%. The business’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.70 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.53 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 50,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.93, for a total transaction of $4,396,500.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 400,000 shares in the company, valued at $35,172,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 50,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.93, for a total transaction of $4,396,500.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 400,000 shares in the company, valued at $35,172,000. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total value of $8,730,000.00. Following the transaction, the chairman now owns 350,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $30,555,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 302,355 shares of company stock worth $26,753,102. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MS. Fairfield Bush & CO. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at $108,000. Baird Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 7.8% in 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. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 61.9% in 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. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 64.5% in 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 lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 66.9% in 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

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.