Weekly Investment Analysts’ Ratings Updates for Morgan Stanley (MS)

A number of firms have modified their ratings and price targets on shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) recently:

• 4/19/2024 – Morgan Stanley had its price target raised by analysts at HSBC Holdings plc from $100.00 to $102.00. They now have a “hold” rating on the stock.
• 4/18/2024 – Morgan Stanley had its price target raised by analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $115.00 to $118.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 4/18/2024 – Morgan Stanley had its “market perform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at JMP Securities.
• 4/17/2024 – Morgan Stanley had its price target raised by analysts at Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. from $97.00 to $101.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 4/17/2024 – Morgan Stanley had its price target raised by analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $94.00 to $98.00. They now have a “market perform” rating on the stock.
• 4/17/2024 – Morgan Stanley had its price target raised by analysts at Bank of America Co. from $100.00 to $106.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 4/17/2024 – Morgan Stanley had its price target raised by analysts at Jefferies Financial Group Inc. from $107.00 to $109.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 4/16/2024 – Morgan Stanley had its price target raised by analysts at Cfra from $97.00 to $108.00. They now have a “buy” rating on the stock.
• 4/9/2024 – Morgan Stanley had its “market perform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at JMP Securities.
• 4/5/2024 – Morgan Stanley had its price target raised by analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $91.00 to $94.00. They now have a “market perform” rating on the stock.
• 4/4/2024 – Morgan Stanley had its price target raised by analysts at Evercore ISI from $97.00 to $102.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 3/28/2024 – Morgan Stanley had its price target raised by analysts at HSBC Holdings plc from $96.00 to $100.00. They now have a “hold” rating on the stock.
• 3/27/2024 – Morgan Stanley had its “sector perform” rating reaffirmed by analysts at Royal Bank of Canada. They now have a $91.00 price target on the stock.
• 3/19/2024 – Morgan Stanley had its price target lowered by analysts at Oppenheimer Holdings Inc. from $109.00 to $97.00. They now have an “outperform” rating on the stock.
• 3/6/2024 – Morgan Stanley was upgraded by analysts at TheStreet from a “c+” rating to a “b” rating.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $92.10 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $149.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.78, a PEG ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.43. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $69.42 and a 12 month high of $95.57. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $85.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.89, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.75.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.02 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.69 by $0.33. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 10.87% and a net margin of 9.57%. The firm had revenue of $15.14 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $14.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.70 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 6.77 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $0.85 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, April 29th. This represents a $3.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 61.93%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 26,655 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.19, for a total transaction of $2,324,049.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 286,835 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,009,143.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 26,655 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $87.19, for a total transaction of $2,324,049.45. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 286,835 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,009,143.65. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $87.41, for a total value of $393,345.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 93,134 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,140,842.94. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 302,355 shares of company stock worth $26,753,102 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $958,105,000. Boston Partners purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at $477,765,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.2% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,451,051 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,585,561,000 after acquiring an additional 5,631,435 shares during the last quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $512,867,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.2% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 23,474,452 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,917,159,000 after acquiring an additional 4,098,577 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

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.