Bank of America Cuts Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Price Target to $144.00

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) had its price objective dropped by investment analysts at Bank of America from $150.00 to $144.00 in a research note issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 24.33% from the stock’s current price.

MS has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Citigroup decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, March 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $138.00 to $145.00 and gave the company a “market perform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $130.13.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $115.82 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $128.75 and a 200 day simple moving average of $124.23. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $85.01 and a one year high of $142.03. The company has a market capitalization of $186.80 billion, a PE ratio of 14.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,910,200,000. Capital Research Global Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 44.8% in the fourth quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 21,794,873 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,740,051,000 after buying an additional 6,744,333 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 75.2% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,850,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,493,000 after acquiring an additional 3,369,520 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,213,599,000 after acquiring an additional 2,725,335 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $324,118,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by 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.