Citigroup Cuts Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Price Target to $125.00

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) had its price target trimmed by Citigroup from $135.00 to $125.00 in a research note published on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a neutral rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also issued reports on MS. HSBC lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays increased 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, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, January 13th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $132.33.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 2.4 %

MS stock opened at $122.17 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $197.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $85.01 and a 52 week high of $142.03. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $130.39 and a 200-day simple moving average of $123.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 110,132,798 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,845,895,000 after purchasing an additional 696,646 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,844,753 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,240,089,000 after buying an additional 604,024 shares during the period. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 25,561,560 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,213,599,000 after buying an additional 2,725,335 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 22,833,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,870,683,000 after buying an additional 428,956 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors raised its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 6,744,333 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.