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

Key Points

• UBS Group raised its price target on Morgan Stanley from $214 to $255 and kept a buy rating, implying about 14.25% upside from the previous close.
• Morgan Stanley’s latest quarter beat expectations, with EPS of $3.43 versus $3.02 expected and revenue of $20.58 billion topping estimates; revenue rose 16% year over year.
• The company also authorized a $20 billion share repurchase program, which covers up to 5.6% of outstanding shares and signals management confidence in the stock’s value.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) had its price target hoisted by research analysts at UBS Group from $214.00 to $255.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a "buy" rating on the financial services provider's stock. UBS Group's target price points to a potential upside of 14.25% from the stock's previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $207.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Morgan Stanley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Argus boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $213.95.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $223.19 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $352.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.22, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $135.26 and a twelve month high of $230.47. The company has a 50 day moving average of $205.33 and a 200-day moving average of $185.72.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The company had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $19.23 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.60 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 11.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total transaction of $2,120,758.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total value of $9,744,068.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in MS. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $21,253,554,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361,940 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 103,854,751 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $18,437,334,000 after purchasing an additional 539,544 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 27,321,214 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,343,523,000 after purchasing an additional 167,487 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,070,557 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $4,786,350,000 after purchasing an additional 534,708 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,018,335 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,441,505,000 after purchasing an additional 524,189 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

Here are the key news stories impacting Morgan Stanley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley analyst coverage of SpaceX helped fuel optimism after the firm reportedly initiated coverage with a highly upbeat view, reinforcing Morgan Stanley’s role in underwriting and researching major capital markets deals. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Analysts say the blockbuster SpaceX IPO is boosting sales-and-trading revenue at Wall Street banks, which should support second-quarter earnings at firms like Morgan Stanley. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley Investment Management also announced an investment in the Greenlight Electricity Centre power project, adding another infrastructure-focused growth angle to the Morgan Stanley story. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: MS shares have been trending higher recently and are trading near their 52-week high, reflecting strong momentum heading into the next earnings cycle.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several unrelated headlines mention Morgan Stanley as an analyst or portfolio holder in other companies, but they are unlikely to directly move MS stock today.

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley NYSE: MS is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1935 by Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley, the company provides a broad range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individual investors. Leadership has been guided by a senior executive team and board of directors; James P. Gorman has served as the company's chief executive and chairman in recent years.

The firm's primary business activities are organized around three principal businesses: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management.

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