Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Stock Price

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) had its price target cut by equities researchers at Wells Fargo & Company from $142.00 to $130.00 in a report issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective indicates a potential upside of 11.43% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Citigroup lowered their target price on Morgan Stanley from $135.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Monday. 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. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $124.00 to $129.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $146.00 to $153.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.53.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 2.0 %

Morgan Stanley stock traded down $2.34 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $116.67. 338,606 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,211,497. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $188.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.71, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $130.06 and its 200 day simple moving average is $123.47. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $85.01 and a fifty-two week high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. The trade was a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $774,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. 1ST Source Bank raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 15,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,002,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,727 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $594,000 after buying an additional 76 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.8% during the fourth quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 4,408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. Finally, Omnia Family Wealth LLC boosted its holdings 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 valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.