Morgan Stanley’s (MS) Outperform Rating Reiterated at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods

Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reissued their outperform rating on shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in a report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods currently has a $230.00 target price on the financial services provider’s stock, down from their previous target price of $250.00.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on MS. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Freedom Capital raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Citigroup reduced their target price on Morgan Stanley from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, October 8th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $210.00 price objective on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $214.86.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.8%

NYSE MS opened at $180.73 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $204.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $203.48. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $152.80 and a 52 week high of $232.25. The company has a market cap of $285.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.10. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 15.63%. The company had revenue of $20.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.93 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.80 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be paid a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to buy back $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MS. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at about $78,825,883,310. Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 16,326,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,686,881,000 after buying an additional 87,533 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,206,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,342,532,000 after acquiring an additional 188,296 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.5% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 9,794,288 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,611,846,000 after buying an additional 422,775 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,235,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,190,585,000 after acquiring an additional 65,739 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Record wealth-management results, including approximately $9.1 billion in revenue, strong net new assets and $10.5 trillion in wealth assets, reinforced Morgan Stanley’s long-term growth strategy. Morgan Stanley Q3 profit hits $4.9bn on wealth gains and IPO inflows
• Positive Sentiment: Equities trading revenue surged 41% year over year, helping drive the earnings and revenue outperformance. Management also highlighted opportunities from AI financing and disciplined capital allocation. Morgan Stanley Q3 Earnings Call Highlights Wealth and AI Strategy
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley declared a quarterly dividend of $1.15 per share, equivalent to $4.60 annually and a stated yield of about 2.5%, providing ongoing shareholder support.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains mixed: JPMorgan raised its target to $198 while maintaining a Neutral rating, but Citigroup, TD Cowen and KBW lowered their targets to $190, $205 and $230, respectively. Morgan Stanley Analysts Cut Their Forecasts After Q3 Results
• Negative Sentiment: Investors appeared concerned that growth was concentrated in equities and trading, while profitability metrics and the business mix were less compelling. The strong beat therefore did not translate into higher valuation expectations. Morgan Stanley Beats on Earnings, But Shares Fall on Trading Mix

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

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.