Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Receives Average Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-five ratings firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $210.50.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $179.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, HSBC lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley won conditional OCC approval for a national digital asset trust bank, giving it a regulated path to offer crypto custody and related services to institutional clients.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary continues to highlight Morgan Stanley as a strong growth name, with Zacks pointing to the stock’s favorable growth profile and earnings-surprise history.
• Positive Sentiment: Another market note said Morgan Stanley paired its recent dividend increase with a $20 billion buyback, reinforcing capital-return strength and shareholder-friendly policies.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles compared Morgan Stanley with JPMorgan and other big banks, but these were mostly valuation/style discussions rather than direct new fundamental catalysts.
• Neutral Sentiment: One analyst note mentioned Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on EQT Corp., which is unrelated to MS’s own operations and is unlikely to be a major driver for Morgan Stanley shares.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total value of $2,120,758.50. Following the sale, the insider owned 169,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. This represents a 6.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total transaction of $2,779,935.60. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,224,370.48. This represents a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Purpose Unlimited Inc. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $214.27 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $337.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.23. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $135.26 and a one year high of $230.47. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $205.33 and a 200 day simple moving average of $185.72. 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 (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.60 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.87 EPS for the current year.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.23%.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

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.