Brokerages Set Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Price Target at $209.50

Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty-five ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have given a hold rating and twelve have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $210.50.

MS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Wolfe Research cut their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, June 29th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.2%

MS stock opened at $214.27 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $135.26 and a 1-year high of $230.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. The business’s 50 day moving average is $205.33 and its 200-day moving average is $185.67. The firm has a market cap of $337.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.60 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 11.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback program 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 programs are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.23%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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. This represents a 6.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total value of $9,744,068.12. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Purpose Unlimited Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

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.