Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Receives Average Recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley has a consensus analyst rating of “Moderate Buy” from 24 brokerages, with 12 buy ratings and 12 hold ratings. The average 1-year price target is $205.95.
• The company recently beat quarterly expectations, reporting $3.43 EPS versus the $3.02 consensus and $20.58 billion in revenue, up 16% year over year. Analysts still expect full-year EPS of 11.85.
• Morgan Stanley also paid a $1.00 quarterly dividend recently, equal to a 1.9% yield, while insiders sold shares and institutional ownership remained high at 84.19%.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" by the twenty-four brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $205.95.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $207.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Wolfe Research reduced their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Barclays increased their price target 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. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total value 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 represents a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total value of $2,120,758.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 169,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,736,648,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 29.1% in the fourth 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 acquiring an additional 3,364,080 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 142.4% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,122,060 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $511,723,000 after acquiring an additional 1,833,844 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $21,253,554,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361,940 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2,332.9% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,406,495 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $249,710,000 after acquiring an additional 1,348,683 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs were reportedly chosen to lead Anthropic’s IPO, a potentially high-profile assignment that could bring underwriting fees, trading activity, and prestige if the deal moves forward. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Land Anthropic IPO
• Positive Sentiment: A separate report said Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital led a $33 million growth financing for Subtle Medical, reinforcing the firm’s active role in funding AI-related and healthcare technology opportunities. Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital Leads $33 Million Growth Financing For Subtle Medical
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley also published macro commentary warning that Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh’s first policy meeting could jolt foreign-exchange markets, a view that matters more for the broader market backdrop than for MS directly. Warsh’s Fed Debut Is a Key Risk for FX, Morgan Stanley Says

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 2.0%

MS opened at $210.63 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $127.34 and a fifty-two week high of $217.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The company's 50-day moving average is $186.82 and its 200 day moving average is $178.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $332.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.08, a PEG ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The business had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.60 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is currently 36.23%.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

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.

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