Q3 EPS Forecast for Morgan Stanley Boosted by Analyst

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) – Research analysts at Zacks Research increased their Q3 2025 EPS estimates for shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note issued on Friday, September 19th. Zacks Research analyst Team now anticipates that the financial services provider will earn $1.96 per share for the quarter, up from their previous estimate of $1.95. The consensus estimate for Morgan Stanley’s current full-year earnings is $8.56 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Morgan Stanley’s FY2025 earnings at $8.72 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $2.36 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $2.24 EPS, FY2026 earnings at $9.30 EPS and Q1 2027 earnings at $2.39 EPS.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.98 by $0.15. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.20%. The firm had revenue of $16.79 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.82 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% compared to the same quarter last year.

A number of other research firms have also issued reports on MS. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $145.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, September 16th. Citigroup reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $130.00 target price (up from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $127.00 to $160.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $136.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $139.92.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $160.76 on Monday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $147.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $132.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.30, a quick ratio of 0.78 and a current ratio of 0.78. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $94.33 and a one year high of $163.98. The firm has a market cap of $256.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 1.33.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, July 31st were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, July 31st. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 45.30%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Charles A. Smith sold 20,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.30, for a total value of $2,806,000.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 119,239 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $16,729,231.70. The trade was a 14.36% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 43,566 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.97, for a total transaction of $6,141,499.02. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 294,250 shares in the company, valued at approximately $41,480,422.50. The trade was a 12.90% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 148,149 shares of company stock worth $20,841,628 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at about $2,234,883,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 117,769,345 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,740,149,000 after purchasing an additional 7,636,547 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth about $767,506,000. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 21.2% during the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 17,056,916 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,990,030,000 after acquiring an additional 2,989,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 12,318.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 2,750,845 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $320,941,000 after acquiring an additional 2,728,693 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

Morgan Stanley, a financial holding company, provides various financial products and services to corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. It operates through Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management segments.