Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Stock Price Target Cut by Citigroup

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) had its price objective lowered by stock analysts at Citigroup from $210.00 to $190.00 in a report issued on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Citigroup’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 4.52% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms have also recently commented on MS. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, October 8th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Morgan Stanley from $223.00 to $217.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 target price (down from $250.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $214.71.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of MS stock traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $181.78. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 4,931,689 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,172,158. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $286.72 billion, a PE ratio of 14.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.22. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $205.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $203.47. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $152.80 and a 12-month high of $232.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.93 by $0.10. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 15.65%. The company had revenue of $20.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.93 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.80 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 12.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 167.6% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 145,876 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,436,000 after buying an additional 91,373 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Trust Co increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 6.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Trust Co now owns 6,611 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,243,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 9.2% in the third quarter. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 16,931 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,184,000 after buying an additional 1,426 shares during the period. WealthPlan Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at $245,000. Finally, C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 42.1% during the third quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors now owns 2,870 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $540,000 after acquiring an additional 850 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley reported Q3 revenue of $20.34 billion and EPS of $3.03, surpassing consensus estimates. Revenue increased 11.6% year over year, while net income applicable to the company reached approximately $4.9 billion. Morgan Stanley Reports Third-Quarter Results
• Positive Sentiment: Record Wealth Management revenue of $9.1 billion, $232.4 billion in net new assets and $80.5 billion in fee-based flows underscored the firm’s more stable recurring-growth strategy. Equity trading revenue also surged 41%, helping offset weaker fixed-income markets. Morgan Stanley Q3 Profit
• Positive Sentiment: The board declared a quarterly dividend of $1.15 per share, equivalent to a $4.60 annualized payout and roughly a 2.6% yield. Morgan Stanley also repurchased $1.54 billion of stock, supporting shareholder returns.
• Neutral Sentiment: Management highlighted AI-related financing opportunities, IPO activity and disciplined capital allocation. However, these growth opportunities remain sensitive to market conditions and client activity.
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts lowered price targets after the earnings release. TD Cowen cut its target to $205 from $210 and maintained a Hold rating, while Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced its target to $230 from $250 despite reaffirming Outperform. The revisions suggest the earnings beat was largely anticipated or viewed as difficult to sustain. Morgan Stanley Analysts Cut Forecasts
• Negative Sentiment: Higher interest-rate volatility and a bond-market selloff hurt fixed-income trading revenue across Wall Street, highlighting Morgan Stanley’s continued exposure to market-sensitive businesses. Investors also appear concerned that the stock’s recent gains already reflect much of its strong operating performance.

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm serving corporations, governments, financial institutions, individuals and other investors. The company provides investment banking and advisory services, including mergers and acquisitions advice, equity and debt underwriting, securities sales and trading, and corporate lending.

Through its Wealth Management business, Morgan Stanley offers financial planning, brokerage, investment advisory and banking services to individual investors, businesses and institutions.