Jefferies Financial Group Raises Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Price Target to $135.00

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) had its price objective hoisted by stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group from $120.00 to $135.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “buy” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 12.76% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on MS. Oppenheimer cut Morgan Stanley from an “outperform” rating to a “market perform” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 17th. JMP Securities reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, July 18th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 8th. HSBC raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price target for the company in a research note on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, October 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $104.51.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.2 %

Morgan Stanley stock traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $119.72. The stock had a trading volume of 1,893,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,083,802. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $69.42 and a 1-year high of $121.45. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $102.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $98.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $194.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.36.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.65 by $0.17. The business had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.32 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 11.85%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.24 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total transaction of $368,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 43,224 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,549,326. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Bayesian Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter worth about $2,660,000. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.8% during the second quarter. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $561,000 after purchasing an additional 871 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 115.0% in the first quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 223,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $20,305,000 after acquiring an additional 119,633 shares in the last quarter. AIA Group Ltd boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 96.6% in the 1st quarter. AIA Group Ltd now owns 33,598 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,164,000 after purchasing an additional 16,507 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter worth about $87,558,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.