Oppenheimer analyst Chris Kotowski maintained a Buy rating on Morgan Stanley (MS) today and set a price target of $53. The company’s shares opened today at $42.45.
Kotowski noted:
“Morgan Stanley reported 4Q18 EPS of $0.80 versus our $0.91 estimate and consensus $0.89. The results included a $0.07 tax benefit, and so the core EPS print of $0.73 missed by even a bit more than the headline number. That said, we would not hit the panic button and instead use today’s weakness in the stock to add to positions. To us, the shares are really attractive at 1.15x TBV and 8.7x our 2019 earnings estimate. While the quarter was a miss, the full-year result remained very solid, and the weakness in the quarter can be reasonably explained. Most of it came from a shortfall in FICC trading in a very volatile quarter plus incremental deferred comp accruals.”
According to TipRanks.com, Kotowski is a 5-star analyst with an average return of 8.8% and a 59.0% success rate. Kotowski covers the Financial sector, focusing on stocks such as Eagle Point Credit Company Inc, Great Elm Capital Corporation, and Fidus Investment Corporation.
Morgan Stanley has an analyst consensus of Moderate Buy, with a price target consensus of $49, which is a 15.4% upside from current levels. In a report issued on January 9, Citigroup also upgraded the stock to Buy with a $48 price target.
See today’s analyst top recommended stocks >>
The company has a one-year high of $59.38 and a one-year low of $36.74. Currently, Morgan Stanley has an average volume of 13.43M.
TipRanks has tracked 36,000 company insiders and found that a few of them are better than others when it comes to timing their transactions. See which 3 stocks are most likely to make moves following their insider activities.
Morgan Stanley provides investment banking products and services to its clients and customers including corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals. It operates through the following business segments: Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management.
