Barclays Issues Positive Forecast for Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Stock Price

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) had its price objective hoisted by stock analysts at Barclays from $135.00 to $155.00 in a report issued on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 19.40% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, December 6th. HSBC cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and increased their price target for the company from $128.00 to $131.00 in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $138.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 3rd. Finally, UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $123.13.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Morgan Stanley stock traded up $3.88 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $129.82. 2,885,283 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,853,054. The company has a market cap of $209.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.76, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $127.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $111.58. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $83.09 and a 52-week high of $136.24.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.57 by $0.31. The business had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.27 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.64% and a return on equity of 12.58%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.33 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, October 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total value of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. The trade was a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 474.3% during the 3rd quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 21,134 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,203,000 after buying an additional 17,454 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,159,000 after buying an additional 36,120 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.4% during the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 1,152,937 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $120,182,000 after acquiring an additional 16,350 shares during the period. Catalytic Wealth RIA LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter worth about $579,000. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 3,369,520 shares in the last quarter. 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.