The Goldman Sachs Group Has Lowered Expectations for Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Stock Price

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) had its target price lowered by stock analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $144.00 to $126.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s price objective points to a potential upside of 4.57% from the stock’s previous close.

MS has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Hsbc Global Res lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $131.60.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.5 %

MS opened at $120.49 on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $85.01 and a fifty-two week high of $142.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a current ratio of 0.80 and a quick ratio of 0.80. The company has a market cap of $194.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $130.61 and a 200 day simple moving average of $122.69.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total transaction of $2,380,175.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Wood Tarver Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Park Square Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $46,000. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $129,341,000. Brucke Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $228,000. Finally, Omnia Family Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC now owns 3,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $395,000 after acquiring an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.