Stock Traders Purchase High Volume of Morgan Stanley Call Options (NYSE:MS)

Posted by Defense World Staff on Jun 6th, 2023

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Rating) saw some unusual options trading activity on Monday. Stock traders purchased 59,539 call options on the company. This represents an increase of 53% compared to the typical daily volume of 38,877 call options.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Thomas H. Glocer sold 4,535 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.11, for a total value of $395,043.85. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 98,110 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,546,362.10. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MS. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 114.8% in the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 23,059,090 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,024,589,000 after purchasing an additional 12,321,786 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $956,566,000. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 125,756.8% in the fourth quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 10,641,190 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $904,714,000 after purchasing an additional 10,632,735 shares during the period. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at about $451,711,000. Finally, Providence Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth about $46,800,000. 83.48% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.7 %

MS stock opened at $83.74 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $139.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.39, a P/E/G ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $72.05 and a twelve month high of $100.99. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $85.32 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $89.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.68.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Rating) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 19th. The financial services provider reported $1.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.67 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $14.52 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $13.96 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.12% and a return on equity of 11.35%. The firm’s revenue was down 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.06 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 6.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, May 15th. Investors of record on Monday, May 1st were issued a dividend of $0.775 per share. This represents a $3.10 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, April 28th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 53.26%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $104.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 20th. Barclays reduced their target price on Morgan Stanley from $125.00 to $112.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 12th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, May 18th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $104.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 5th. Finally, Cfra reissued a “strong-buy” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating, eight have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.34.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

(Get Rating)

Morgan Stanley operates as a global financial services company. The firm provides investment banking products and services to its clients and customers including corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. It operates through the following segments: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management.