Morgan Stanley Q1 EPS Forecast Increased by Zacks Research

21 Mar 2025, 10:34 by Sarita Garza · The Markets Daily

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Free Report) – Stock analysts at Zacks Research lifted their Q1 2025 earnings estimates for Morgan Stanley in a research report issued on Wednesday, March 19th. Zacks Research analyst R. Department now forecasts that the financial services provider will post earnings of $2.21 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $2.18. 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 Q2 2025 earnings at $2.02 EPS, Q4 2025 earnings at $2.08 EPS, FY2025 earnings at $8.34 EPS, Q2 2026 earnings at $2.28 EPS, Q3 2026 earnings at $2.34 EPS and FY2026 earnings at $9.21 EPS.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the stock. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, November 25th. Hsbc Global Res downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 26th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $140.00 to $150.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, January 17th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 21st. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $131.60.

Read Our Latest Analysis on MS

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $120.49 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $130.61 and its 200 day moving average price is $122.69. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $85.01 and a 52 week high of $142.03. The company has a market capitalization of $194.34 billion, a PE ratio of 15.18, a PEG ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.35. 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 (NYSE:MS – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 12.48% and a return on equity of 14.39%. The firm had revenue of $16.23 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $15.03 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in MS. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,159,000 after buying an additional 36,120 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 66,871 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,971,000 after buying an additional 497 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 20,938 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,185,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at $452,000. Finally, First Horizon Advisors Inc. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.3% during the 3rd quarter. First Horizon Advisors Inc. now owns 11,327 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,181,000 after purchasing an additional 570 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 197,444 shares in the company, valued at $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were 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 owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. The trade was a 17.69 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Investors of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a dividend of $0.925 per share. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 46.60%.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

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