Surience Private Wealth LLC Buys New Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS

Surience Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm purchased 14,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,001,000. Morgan Stanley comprises 2.6% of Surience Private Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 143.4% in the second quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 55.7% during the second quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC now owns 137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Finally, Purpose Unlimited Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $217.31 on Monday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $216.84 and its 200 day moving average is $193.08. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $141.03 and a 12-month high of $232.25. The stock has a market cap of $342.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.57, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.57. The business had revenue of $21.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 15.65%.Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st were issued a $1.15 dividend. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley News Roundup

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on MS shares. Dbs Bank raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, July 6th. Erste Group Bank raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $243.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.75.

About Morgan Stanley

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.