Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Forecasted to Earn FY2024 Earnings of $6.87 Per Share

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) – Research analysts at Zacks Research lowered their FY2024 EPS estimates for shares of Morgan Stanley in a report released on Tuesday, October 8th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now expects that the financial services provider will post earnings of $6.87 per share for the year, down from their prior forecast of $6.91. The consensus estimate for Morgan Stanley’s current full-year earnings is $7.03 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Morgan Stanley’s FY2025 earnings at $7.43 EPS and Q1 2026 earnings at $2.03 EPS.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the company. Wells Fargo & Company lowered Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $99.00 to $95.00 in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $115.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 17th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. HSBC raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $116.00 to $118.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 18th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, twelve have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $103.06.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE MS opened at $108.10 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $100.60 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $98.27. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $69.42 and a 52 week high of $109.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.96. The company has a market cap of $175.68 billion, a PE ratio of 19.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.05 and a beta of 1.36.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.82 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.65 by $0.17. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 10.17% and a return on equity of 11.85%. The business had revenue of $15.02 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.32 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.24 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Groupama Asset Managment bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $10,140,000. Fullerton Fund Management Co Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,728,000. DRW Securities LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 247.2% in the fourth quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 22,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,083,000 after acquiring an additional 15,903 shares during the period. Spouting Rock Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $675,000. Finally, GLOBALT Investments LLC GA purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $3,666,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total transaction of $368,375.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at $4,549,326. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 40,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, July 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $106.54, for a total transaction of $4,261,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 442,522 shares in the company, valued at $47,146,293.88. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Mandell Crawley sold 3,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 26th. The stock was sold at an average price of $105.25, for a total value of $368,375.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 43,224 shares in the company, valued at $4,549,326. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 252,000 shares of company stock worth $26,546,370 in the last quarter. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 15th. Investors of record on Wednesday, July 31st were issued a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.85. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.40%.

About Morgan Stanley

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.