Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) has been given an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the twenty-six ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have assigned a hold recommendation, twelve have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $224.50.

MS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, July 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, CICC Research increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s own analysts highlighted supportive themes in other names, including stronger earnings, M&A momentum, and constructive AI/cloud spending trends, which reinforces the firm’s research credibility and may help sentiment around MS’s advisory and markets businesses.
• Positive Sentiment: The bank has been cited in recent commentary about a potential M&A boom and a strong first half for Wall Street, which could support expectations for investment banking and deal-related fees at Morgan Stanley (MS). Morgan Stanley stock in focus as Goldman Sachs predicts an M&A boom
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley was also mentioned as part of broader market coverage around strong U.S. banking results and analyst upgrades, but these items were not direct company-specific catalysts for MS.
• Negative Sentiment: The stock has faced some pressure from investors focusing more on what Morgan Stanley is saying about the market than on MS itself, especially AI spending, which is seen as huge but potentially less immediately profitable for U.S. investors.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent industry-wide risk-off trading and weakness across mega-cap tech and the Nasdaq have also weighed on financial stocks, limiting upside in Morgan Stanley (MS) despite its strong fundamentals.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 29,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,281,000 after purchasing an additional 8,512 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 679.8% in the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 42,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,527,000 after buying an additional 36,963 shares in the last quarter. BOCHK Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $1,260,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 646,571 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $116,102,000 after buying an additional 65,246 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at approximately $8,854,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 1.5%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $215.26 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $213.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $189.80. The company has a market cap of $339.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.40, a PEG ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $136.17 and a 12-month high of $232.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.57. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.51%. The business had revenue of $21.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 12.68 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 32.34%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to purchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership 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.