Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) was downgraded from Neutral to Underweight at Atlantic Equities today. The stock closed yesterday at $18.20 on volume of 22.7 million shares, below average daily volume of 24.5 million.

Morgan Stanley share prices have moved between a 52-week high of $31.04 and a 52-week low of $11.58 and closed yesterday at 57% above that low price at $18.20 per share. Over the last five market days, the 200-day moving average (MA) has gone down 1% while the 50-day MA has advanced 0.9%.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) has potential upside of 19.0% based on a current price of $18.20 and analysts' consensus price target of $21.65. The stock should hit resistance at its 200-day moving average (MA) of $18.99, as well as support at its 50-day MA of $15.72.

Morgan Stanley, a bank holding company, provides diversified financial services on a worldwide basis. The Company operates a global securities business which serves individual and institutional investors and investment banking clients. Morgan Stanley also operates a global asset management business.

SmarTrend recommended that subscribers consider buying shares of Morgan Stanley on December 5th, 2011 as our proprietary SmarTrend analytics indicated a new Uptrend was in progress when shares hit $16.31. Since that recommendation, shares of Morgan Stanley have risen 11.6%. We continue to monitor MS for any potential shift so investors can protect gains and will alert SmarTrend subscribers immediately.