Oppenheimer Increases Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Price Target to $105.00

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) had its target price hoisted by research analysts at Oppenheimer from $101.00 to $105.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the financial services provider's stock. Oppenheimer's price objective indicates a potential upside of 15.59% from the company's current price.

Several other research analysts have also commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $87.00 price target (down previously from $94.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, April 4th. HSBC raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, April 19th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $115.00 to $118.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $107.00 to $109.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 17th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $98.30.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of MS stock traded down $1.27 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $90.84. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,859,537 shares, compared to its average volume of 8,641,185. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $69.42 and a 1-year high of $95.57. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $89.79 and its 200 day moving average price is $85.58. The company has a market capitalization of $147.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 1.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.87% and a net margin of 9.57%. The firm had revenue of $15.14 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.42 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.70 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley's revenue was up 4.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.77 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total transaction of $8,730,000.00. Following the sale, the chairman now owns 350,000 shares in the company, valued at $30,555,000. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 26,655 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.19, for a total transaction of $2,324,049.45. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 286,835 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,009,143.65. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Chairman James P. Gorman sold 100,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.30, for a total value of $8,730,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chairman now directly owns 350,000 shares in the company, valued at $30,555,000. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 237,855 shares of company stock worth $21,084,057 in the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.2% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,451,051 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $3,585,561,000 after purchasing an additional 5,631,435 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 8.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 24,499,542 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,284,674,000 after acquiring an additional 1,865,645 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,474,452 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,917,159,000 after purchasing an additional 4,098,577 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 20,250,725 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,888,380,000 after purchasing an additional 517,446 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.9% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 20,197,232 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,883,392,000 after purchasing an additional 575,114 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.