Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Stock Has Average Target Price of $214.62 According to Brokerages

Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) have earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twenty-seven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, thirteen have issued a hold recommendation, eleven have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $214.81.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, October 14th. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $215.00 to $219.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $236.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley says it is among the first firms using DTCC’s new tokenization service, including to tokenize U.S. equities and Treasuries. This signals a push into emerging financial-market infrastructure, though the reports provide no details on scale or near-term revenue impact. Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley led construction-sector M&A financial advisory in the first three quarters, advising on 23 deals valued at $114.5 billion. This highlights its advisory franchise, but does not establish how much revenue the transactions generated. Article
• Negative Sentiment: The immediate headwind is sector-wide risk aversion: Morgan Stanley fell alongside Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, with commentary pointing to concerns about a potential slowdown in trading and dealmaking. Article

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $182.31 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $152.80 and a one year high of $232.25. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $195.88 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $194.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $287.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.93 by $0.10. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.63% and a return on equity of 19.40%. The firm had revenue of $20.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.80 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.83 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Investors of record on Friday, October 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 36.51%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. CENTRAL TRUST Co raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.3% in the third quarter. CENTRAL TRUST Co now owns 27,696 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,209,000 after acquiring an additional 81 shares in the last quarter. Bayban purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at $35,000. King Luther Capital Management Corp increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 13.1% in the third quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp now owns 18,408 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,462,000 after buying an additional 2,128 shares in the last quarter. CFM Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. CFM Wealth Partners LLC now owns 15,036 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,828,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 13.9% in the 3rd quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System now owns 68,910 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,961,000 after buying an additional 8,425 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services company that provides investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, institutions, governments and individual investors. Founded in 1935, the company is headquartered in New York City and serves clients through operations across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other international markets.

Through its Institutional Securities segment, Morgan Stanley offers investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading, research, lending and related capital-markets services.