Morgan Stanley’s (MS) “Hold” Rating Reiterated at Erste Group Bank

Erste Group Bank reaffirmed their hold rating on shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in a report published on Thursday, Marketbeat reports.

MS has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $211.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $207.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Friday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $157.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and ten have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $185.93.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of MS opened at $160.15 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a market cap of $254.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.69, a PEG ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $178.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $167.85. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $94.33 and a 52-week high of $192.68.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.40. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.78% and a net margin of 14.09%.The company had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.18%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.55, for a total value of $3,691,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 127,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,598,777.60. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 32,968 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.61, for a total transaction of $6,020,286.48. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 357,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,254,222.62. This represents a 8.45% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 129,191 shares of company stock worth $23,736,506 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MS. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 65.2% in the 3rd quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. now owns 185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

More Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley filed an updated S‑1 / SEC amendment advancing its planned spot Bitcoin ETF (naming Coinbase custody and BNY Mellon roles). That materially increases the firm’s potential fee pool (trading, custody, securities lending) if approved — a strategic growth lever beyond traditional banking. Morgan Stanley Files Updated SEC Amendment for Spot Bitcoin ETF Launch
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley provided financing (initial $500M, expandable to $1B) to Core Scientific for data center/AI infrastructure, demonstrating growth in corporate lending and structured finance opportunities tied to AI/crypto infrastructure. That can add fee and interest income if credit performance holds. Core Scientific secures up to $1B credit from Morgan Stanley for data centers
• Neutral Sentiment: Public commentary from Morgan Stanley events (tech/AI conferences) keeps the firm visible as an advisor/market‑maker in tech and AI financing; useful for long‑term franchise positioning but not an immediate earnings surprise. Morgan Stanley’s top tech banker: It’s ‘wartime, not peacetime’ for software
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley announced cuts of roughly 2,500 roles (~3% of workforce) across divisions. Markets often react negatively to broad layoffs because they signal restructuring risk, potential disruption to revenue growth and near‑term execution uncertainty even if they imply future cost savings. Morgan Stanley Sheds 2,500 Employees in Companywide Layoffs
• Negative Sentiment: Investor flow appears to favor trimming MS exposure amid the headlines; analysts and market commentators are re‑assessing near‑term margins and execution risk despite record revenues in 2025 — producing downward pressure on the share price today. Morgan Stanley Cuts 3% Workforce Despite Record Revenues in 2025

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

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.