TD Cowen Begins Coverage on Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Investment analysts at TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in a report released on Thursday, MarketBeat reports. The firm set a “hold” rating and a $210.00 price target on the financial services provider’s stock. TD Cowen’s target price points to a potential upside of 10.72% from the company’s current price.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on MS. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Finally, HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $215.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $219.43.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE MS opened at $189.67 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $151.84 and a 52 week high of $232.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65. The stock has a market cap of $299.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.27 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $208.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $202.66.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.57. The company had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 15.65%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.68 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $78,825,883,310. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 103,854,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,437,334,000 after purchasing an additional 539,544 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 87,533 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.7% during the second 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 purchasing an additional 188,296 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 4.5% during 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. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Jim Cramer endorsed Morgan Stanley as a buy after its pullback, citing the company’s share-repurchase authorization and confidence in CEO Ted Pick’s strategy. Jim Cramer Backs Morgan Stanley After Its Pullback
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is proposing to convert eight Eaton Vance municipal-bond mutual funds, with nearly $10 billion in assets, into ETFs. The move could improve product flexibility and strengthen the firm’s position in the growing ETF market, although shareholder approval is required. Morgan Stanley Plans Municipal Fund ETF Conversions
• Positive Sentiment: The firm was selected as a joint lead manager for the United Kingdom’s planned digitally native government bond, providing potential underwriting, distribution and investor-engagement revenue while expanding its digital-assets credentials. UK Names Banks for Digital Government Bond
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage remains broadly constructive, with Morgan Stanley receiving a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target near $219.90, implying meaningful upside from the current trading level. However, the consensus includes a sizable number of hold ratings.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent commentary highlights Morgan Stanley’s integrated investment-banking, wealth-management and asset-management model as a potential long-term earnings driver as deal activity recovers and client assets expand. Can Morgan Stanley’s Integrated Model Drive Long-Term Earnings Growth?
• Negative Sentiment: BMO Capital Markets lowered its Morgan Stanley price target from $250 to $215 while maintaining an “Outperform” rating. The reduced target signals more limited near-term upside and likely contributed to the stock’s weakness. BMO Cuts Morgan Stanley Price Target
• Negative Sentiment: A Zacks preview said Morgan Stanley does not currently have the combination of earnings and estimate-revision signals typically associated with a likely quarterly earnings beat, increasing investor caution before results. Morgan Stanley Earnings Expected to Grow

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm serving corporations, governments, financial institutions, individuals and other investors. The company provides investment banking and advisory services, including mergers and acquisitions advice, equity and debt underwriting, securities sales and trading, and corporate lending.

Through its Wealth Management business, Morgan Stanley offers financial planning, brokerage, investment advisory and banking services to individual investors, businesses and institutions.