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. The Institutional Securities segment offers capital raising and financial advisory services, including services related to the underwriting of debt, equity, and other securities, as well as advice on mergers and acquisitions, restructurings, real estate, and project finance. This segment also provides sales and trading services, such as sales, financing, prime brokerage, and market-making services in equity and fixed income products consisting of foreign exchange and commodities; corporate and commercial real estate loans, which provides secured lending facilities and financing for sales and trading customers, and asset-backed and mortgage lending; and wealth management services, investment, and research services. The Wealth Management segment offers financial advisor-led brokerage and investment advisory services; self-directed brokerage services; financial and wealth planning services; workplace services, including stock plan administration; annuity and insurance products; securities-based lending, residential real estate loans, and other lending products; banking; and retirement plan services to individual investors and small to medium-sized businesses and institutions. The Investment Management segment provides equity, fixed income, liquidity, and alternative/other products to benefit/defined contribution plans, foundations, endowments, government entities, sovereign wealth funds, insurance companies, and third-party fund sponsors and corporations through institutional and intermediary channels. Morgan Stanley was founded in 1924 and is headquartered in New York, New York.
Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.9 %
Shares of MS Stock traded up $0.77 on Friday, hitting $86.13. 6,219,303 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,831,989. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $79.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $150.67 billion, a PE ratio of 11.64, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.41. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $72.05 and a twelve month high of $109.73.
Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Rating) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.71 by ($0.32). The firm had revenue of $13.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $13.50 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 22.76% and a return on equity of 14.21%. The company's revenue was down 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.89 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.69 EPS for the current year.
Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 15th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 29th will be given a dividend of $0.775 per share. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 28th. This represents a $3.10 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.60%. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is presently 41.89%.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
A number of research firms recently issued reports on MS. Piper Sandler dropped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 1st. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $105.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $83.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 1st. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $123.00 to $108.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 15th. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $97.00 to $93.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 15th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $100.75.
Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley
In related news, Director Stephen J. Luczo acquired 25,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $79.30 per share, for a total transaction of $1,982,500.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 179,449 shares in the company, valued at $14,230,305.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.
