Barclays Lowers Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Price Target to $108.00

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Rating) had its price target reduced by Barclays from $123.00 to $108.00 in a research note published on Friday, The Fly reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the financial services provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $105.00 target price on Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, April 20th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $110.00 to $113.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Monday, April 18th. Oppenheimer raised Morgan Stanley from a market perform rating to an outperform rating and set a $111.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, May 3rd. Piper Sandler lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $90.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $83.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 1st. Eleven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $100.75.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE MS opened at $78.05 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $72.05 and a one year high of $109.73. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $79.08 and a 200 day moving average of $88.24. The company has a market capitalization of $136.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.55, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.39, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Rating) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 14th. The financial services provider reported $1.39 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.71 by ($0.32). Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.21% and a net margin of 22.76%. The business had revenue of $13.13 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $13.50 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.89 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was down 11.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 6.79 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, June 27th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 14.8% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, August 15th. Investors of record on Friday, July 29th will be issued a $0.775 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, July 28th. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $3.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.97%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 37.84%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo acquired 25,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Thursday, May 12th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $79.30 per share, with a total value of $1,982,500.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 179,449 shares in the company, valued at approximately $14,230,305.70. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.26% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 27,618 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,711,000 after purchasing an additional 3,459 shares during the last quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $436,000. Kolinsky Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $250,000. Kestra Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.9% during the 4th quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 81,034 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,954,000 after purchasing an additional 4,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Mayflower Financial Advisors LLC now owns 44,735 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,391,000 after purchasing an additional 456 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 85.02% of the company’s stock.

About Morgan Stanley

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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.