Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Issues Positive Forecast for Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Stock Price

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) had its price target upped by stock analysts at Keefe, Bruyette & Woods from $202.00 to $210.00 in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “outperform” rating on the financial services provider’s stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods’ price target would suggest a potential upside of 9.92% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $177.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $182.46.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE MS opened at $191.04 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $174.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $159.32. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $94.33 and a 12-month high of $192.16. The company has a market capitalization of $303.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.17 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.69 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.40%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.22 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total transaction of $16,434,000.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 574,986 shares in the company, valued at $94,493,199.24. This trade represents a 14.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 645.8% in the second quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 65.2% in the third quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. now owns 185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 earnings beat and dealmaking strength — Morgan Stanley reported $2.68 EPS for Q4 (above estimates) with year?over?year revenue growth and a ~47% jump in investment?banking fees, fueling the rally. Morgan Stanley Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2025
• Positive Sentiment: Declared quarterly dividend — MS announced a $1.00 quarterly dividend (record Jan. 30, payable Feb. 13), which supports income investors and signals management comfort with capital generation. (Company release cited above.)
• Positive Sentiment: Broader sector tailwind and continued deal pipeline — Wall Street peers also reported strong results and Morgan Stanley said it expects more IPOs and a larger deal backlog for 2026, underpinning forward revenue opportunities. Morgan Stanley profit jumps on investment banking revival
• Neutral Sentiment: Market/ETF flows and peer moves are amplifying moves — Financial ETFs and big?bank names (Goldman, JPM) have been lifting the group, which magnifies MS’s share move but can reverse on group rotation. Big Banks Power Up: JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley Strengthen Financial ETFs
• Negative Sentiment: Cash?flow and metric nuance — Third?party summaries flagged a large negative swing in operating cash flow in Q4 and some metric discrepancies (cash generation and certain liability increases), which investors may watch as a near?term risk. Morgan Stanley (MS) Releases Q4 2025 Earnings: EPS Beats, Revenue Misses; Operating Cash Flow Turns Deeply Negative
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling noted — SEC/filing summaries show multiple insider sales in recent months; while not uncommon at large firms, continued insider selling can be read negatively by some investors. QuiverQuant: MS earnings & insider notes

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services firm headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1935 by Henry S. Morgan and Harold Stanley, the company provides a broad range of investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individual investors. Leadership has been guided by a senior executive team and board of directors; James P. Gorman has served as the company’s chief executive and chairman in recent years.

The firm’s primary business activities are organized around three principal businesses: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management and Investment Management.