Orange Investment Advisors Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Orange Investment Advisors Inc. cut its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 9.3% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 39,691 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,057 shares during the quarter. Morgan Stanley makes up approximately 1.0% of Orange Investment Advisors Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 24th largest holding. Orange Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $8,297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MS. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 143.4% during the second quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Hughes Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 55.7% in the second quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC now owns 137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.5%

NYSE:MS opened at $217.31 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $342.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.57, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.22. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $141.03 and a 1-year high of $232.25. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $216.84 and its 200-day moving average price is $193.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.57. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The company had revenue of $21.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st were given a dividend of $1.15 per share. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research cut Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $243.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, July 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.75.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan increased their holdings of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs during the second quarter and added exposure to Solana and XRP products. The activity reinforces Morgan Stanley’s expansion into digital-asset products, which could support future fee and client-asset growth. Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan load up on crypto ETFs
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is among five banks advising Carlyle-backed Quest Global on a potential India IPO of up to $1 billion. The mandate could generate advisory and underwriting fees while highlighting the firm’s international capital-markets franchise. Quest Global selects banks for India IPO
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group raised its earnings estimates for Morgan Stanley, providing a supportive analyst signal following the company’s strong recent quarterly results. Erste Group lifts Morgan Stanley earnings estimates
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley adopted a more constructive view of U.S. IT hardware, citing “chipflation” and faster enterprise spending. The research may benefit the firm’s advisory and trading activity, but it is not a direct change to Morgan Stanley’s earnings outlook. Morgan Stanley turns bullish on IT hardware
• Negative Sentiment: A critical report on Morgan Stanley’s direct-lending business raised concerns about recent results and credit-market risks. Although details were limited, the negative coverage may weigh on sentiment toward the firm’s private-credit operations. Morgan Stanley direct lending results

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.