Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Raised to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) was upgraded by research analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $216.93 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $145.65 and a 52 week high of $232.25. The company has a market capitalization of $342.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.54, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $217.02 and a 200 day simple moving average of $194.67.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.57. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business had revenue of $21.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $78,825,883,310,000. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 20,805.5% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 374,314,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,246,626,000 after purchasing an additional 372,523,624 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 103,854,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,437,334,000 after acquiring an additional 539,544 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,070,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,786,350,000 after acquiring an additional 534,708 shares during the period. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,018,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,441,505,000 after acquiring an additional 524,189 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morgan Stanley News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analyst upgrade: Zacks upgraded Morgan Stanley to Rank #1, or “Strong Buy,” citing improving earnings prospects. The call reinforces the bullish view following the company’s latest quarterly earnings beat, when revenue and EPS exceeded consensus estimates. Morgan Stanley Upgraded to Strong Buy
• Positive Sentiment: Wealth-management expansion: Morgan Stanley is exploring a broader international wealth-management push, potentially expanding its addressable client base and generating longer-term fee-based revenue growth. Morgan Stanley’s Bobby Singh: Why We Are Exploring an International Wealth Push
• Positive Sentiment: Capital-markets backdrop: Morgan Stanley expects tighter oil markets and potentially higher gold prices, conditions that could increase trading, commodities and advisory activity. The benefit is indirect and depends on market volatility and client activity. Oil tightens as Morgan Stanley sees Brent hitting $100
• Neutral Sentiment: Preferred dividends declared: Regular dividends on Morgan Stanley’s preferred-stock series highlight continued distributions to income investors, but they do not directly increase common-stock earnings or dividends. Morgan Stanley Declares Preferred Dividends
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and legal risks: Morgan Stanley’s roughly 45% one-year gain has left investors questioning whether the shares are fully valued. Rising expenses and cyclical trading revenue could constrain additional gains, while lawsuits concerning banks’ roles in leveraged buyouts create a potential liability overhang. Morgan Stanley Gains 45.1% in a Year
• Negative Sentiment: Higher-yield environment: Morgan Stanley warns that bond yields could become higher and more volatile in a postwar-style economic regime. Although volatility can aid trading, persistently high yields may pressure valuations, deal activity and wealth-management asset flows. Morgan Stanley warns bond yields could rise

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.