Morgan Stanley Lifts RAL Target to $85 as Bulls Dominate Options

Morgan Stanley raised its price target on RAL to $85 this morning — a 25% jump from its prior $68 — while maintaining an Overweight rating. The stock trades at $69.22. That gap between the new target and current price is the headline story today.

Analysts Keep Lifting the Bar

Morgan Stanley's Chris Snyder has now raised his RAL target three times since May. The progression: $45 → $68 → $85. TD Cowen, Citigroup, and Barclays all raised targets in May as well. Every firm held its bullish rating. Not one downgrade in the recent history.

The mean consensus target sits at $68.55 — now below the current price. Morgan Stanley's fresh $85 is well above the pack.

Options Market Leans Hard Bullish

The put/call ratio hit 0.029 on June 23. The 20-day average is 0.38. That's 2.75 standard deviations below the mean — extreme call dominance. For context, the PCR was running above 0.47 for most of early June. Something shifted sharply in the past two sessions.

Bullish options positioning and a Street that keeps raising targets are pointing the same direction.

Short Sellers Are Stepping Back

Shares short fell nearly 20% in a single day to 5.7 million. That continues a broader retreat — short interest is down 17% over the past week. The borrow market is wide open. Availability stands at 3,477% of estimated shorts, meaning roughly 34 shares are available to lend for every one currently borrowed. Cost to borrow is just 0.36%, near multi-month lows despite a week-on-week uptick.

The previous article flagged a one-day SI spike on June 16 as likely noise. That call was right — shorts have since unwound.

Institutional Support Is Notable

Dodge & Cox holds 12.3% of shares. Vanguard Portfolio Management entered with a full 7.6% stake. Irenic Capital added 1.4 million shares last reported period. Point72 added 785,000. The holder base looks engaged.

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What to watch: Whether the stock can close the gap to Morgan Stanley's $85 target. The next earnings date is August 11.

• Price: $69.22, up 2.2% on the day, +12.5% over the past month
• PCR: 0.029 vs. 20-day mean of 0.38 (z-score: −2.75)
• Short interest: 5.7M shares, −19.6% in one day
• Availability: 3,477% — very loose borrow market
• Cost to borrow: 0.36%
• Morgan Stanley target: $85 (raised from $68 today)