Zacks Research Forecasts Weaker Earnings for Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) – Analysts at Zacks Research decreased their Q1 2026 EPS estimates for Morgan Stanley in a research note issued on Thursday, February 6th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now anticipates that the financial services provider will post earnings per share of $2.19 for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of $2.22. The consensus estimate for Morgan Stanley’s current full-year earnings is $8.56 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Morgan Stanley’s Q3 2026 earnings at $2.32 EPS, Q4 2026 earnings at $2.39 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $9.16 EPS.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $104.00 to $108.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, January 13th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, January 17th. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, November 25th. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $131.27.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS stock opened at $137.80 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $130.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $117.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $222.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.35, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.37. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $83.09 and a 1 year high of $142.03.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.54 by $0.68. The business had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The business’s revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.13 EPS.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st will be paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 46.60%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Morgan Stanley

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of MS. Lindbrook Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 6,156 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $774,000 after buying an additional 73 shares during the period. 1ST Source Bank boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 15,925 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,002,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Moors & Cabot Inc. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC increased its position in 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 worth $554,000 after purchasing an additional 77 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Perfromance Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,004 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $378,000 after purchasing an additional 78 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

About Morgan Stanley

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.