Q1 EPS Estimates for Morgan Stanley Raised by Zacks Research

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) – Zacks Research raised their Q1 2026 earnings estimates for shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday, March 19th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now expects that the financial services provider will post earnings of $2.20 per share for the quarter, up from their previous forecast of $2.19. The consensus estimate for Morgan Stanley’s current full-year earnings is $8.56 per share.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on MS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $124.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Erste Group Bank lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. HSBC lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $128.00 to $131.00 in a report on Tuesday, November 26th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $132.33.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS stock opened at $125.25 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $85.01 and a 52-week high of $142.03. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. The stock has a market cap of $202.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. The business has a fifty day moving average of $130.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $123.51.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $15.03 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% compared to the same quarter last year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $491,159,000 after buying an additional 36,120 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 92,917 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $9,686,000 after acquiring an additional 3,855 shares in the last quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 31.7% in the third quarter. Eagle Asset Management Inc. now owns 21,442 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,235,000 after acquiring an additional 5,155 shares during the last quarter. Nwam LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at $380,000. Finally, Nicolet Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.9% in the third quarter. Nicolet Advisory Services LLC now owns 7,594 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $794,000 after acquiring an additional 355 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares in the company, valued at $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total value of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. This trade represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.95%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 46.60%.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

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.