Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Receives $224.50 Consensus Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-six analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have given a hold recommendation, twelve have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $224.50.

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. CICC Research upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Marquette Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 143.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth $28,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 55.7% during the second quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC now owns 137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the period. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s recent earnings results were strong, with the firm beating estimates on both EPS and revenue and posting robust year-over-year growth, which supports the stock’s longer-term fundamental case.
• Positive Sentiment: The company continues to receive constructive Wall Street commentary, including a “Moderate Buy” consensus and recent bullish analyst coverage tied to its earnings power and capital markets franchise.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent headlines also pointed to Morgan Stanley’s wealth management unit attracting new assets tied to SpaceX IPO interest, which reinforces the strength of its wealth and investment management businesses.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several unrelated market stories involving Morgan Stanley analyst calls on other stocks, plus broader AI/capex and earnings-driven volatility across large-cap tech and financials, may be influencing sentiment around MS indirectly.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of MS opened at $214.11 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $213.93 and its 200-day simple moving average is $189.99. The company has a market cap of $337.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $136.17 and a twelve month high of $232.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.57. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.51%. The firm had revenue of $21.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 12.68 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 32.34%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.