Analysts Offer Predictions for Morgan Stanley Q1 Earnings

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) - Equities research analysts at Zacks Research boosted their Q1 2026 earnings per share estimates for shares of Morgan Stanley in a report released on Wednesday, March 19th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now anticipates that the financial services provider will post earnings per share of $2.20 for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $2.19. The consensus estimate for Morgan Stanley's current full-year earnings is $8.56 per share.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $124.00 to $129.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group dropped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $144.00 to $126.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $132.33.

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Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS traded down $3.03 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $119.17. The stock had a trading volume of 8,239,349 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,234,235. The business has a fifty day moving average of $130.39 and a 200 day moving average of $123.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. The firm has a market cap of $192.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.01, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $85.01 and a 12 month high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $774,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the period. 1ST Source Bank grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 15,925 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,002,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. now owns 4,727 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $594,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. DGS Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.8% in the 4th quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 4,408 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $554,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Omnia Family Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC now owns 3,140 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $395,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 31st were given a dividend of $0.925 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. This represents a $3.70 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.