Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Sets New 52-Week High – Here’s Why

Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $232.10 and last traded at $230.5410, with a volume of 1572886 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $221.09.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

Here are the key news stories impacting Morgan Stanley this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts expect Morgan Stanley to benefit from stronger trading activity, higher IB fees, and better net interest income in Q2.
• Positive Sentiment: Broader bank-earnings coverage suggests major banks, including Morgan Stanley, may beat estimates thanks to capital markets strength and resilient client activity.
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also watching Morgan Stanley’s earnings release closely, with the stock trading near its 52-week high ahead of the report.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MS shares. Bank of America boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $194.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $215.20.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. The stock has a market cap of $359.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $209.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $187.61.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.60 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 11.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.23%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at $53,209,159.78. This trade represents a 15.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total transaction of $2,779,935.60. Following the transaction, the insider owned 365,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,224,370.48. This trade represents a 3.86% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $2,736,648,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,917,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,648,354,000 after purchasing an additional 3,364,080 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 142.4% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,122,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $511,723,000 after buying an additional 1,833,844 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,253,554,000 after buying an additional 1,361,940 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2,332.9% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,406,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $249,710,000 after buying an additional 1,348,683 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1935 by Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley, the company provides a broad range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individual investors. Leadership has been guided by a senior executive team and board of directors; James P. Gorman has served as the company’s chief executive and chairman in recent years.

The firm’s primary business activities are organized around three principal businesses: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management.