Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on MS. HSBC boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Bank of America upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. UBS Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $214.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Argus upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $215.20.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $222.12 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $350.35 billion, a PE ratio of 20.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.23. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $206.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $186.38. 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 has a 12 month low of $135.26 and a 12 month high of $230.47.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.60 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 11.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase 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 buy up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 36.23%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total transaction of $2,120,758.50. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares in the company, valued at $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at $53,209,159.78. This trade represents a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 in the last ninety days. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,736,648,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 29.1% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,917,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,648,354,000 after acquiring an additional 3,364,080 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 142.4% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,122,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $511,723,000 after acquiring an additional 1,833,844 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,253,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 2,332.9% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,406,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $249,710,000 after purchasing an additional 1,348,683 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Jefferies upgraded Morgan Stanley (MS) from hold to strong-buy, signaling higher conviction in the stock’s outlook.
• Positive Sentiment: UBS raised its price target on Morgan Stanley (MS) to $255 and kept a buy rating, implying additional upside from current levels.
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America increased its price target on Morgan Stanley (MS) to $250 and maintained a buy rating, reinforcing bullish sentiment ahead of earnings.
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley (MS) is set to report second-quarter results on July 15, keeping investors focused on trading and investment banking trends.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent commentary from Morgan Stanley has also highlighted a possible rotation in markets from chipmakers toward hyperscalers and other sectors, which may support sentiment around the firm’s macro view.

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.