157,931 Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS Bought by OP Asset Management Ltd

OP Asset Management Ltd bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 157,931 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $25,991,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth about $2,736,648,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,917,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,648,354,000 after purchasing an additional 3,364,080 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 142.4% in the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,122,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $511,723,000 after purchasing an additional 1,833,844 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,253,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2,332.9% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,406,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $249,710,000 after buying an additional 1,348,683 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently commented on MS. HSBC increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. CICC Research boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $208.90.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total transaction of $2,120,758.50. Following the transaction, the insider owned 169,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total value of $9,744,068.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,209,159.78. This trade represents a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its quarterly dividend to $1.15 per share from $1.00 and reauthorized a $20 billion multi-year share repurchase program, a shareholder-friendly capital return update. Morgan Stanley Announces a Dividend Increase of 15 Cents to $1.15 Per Share and the Reauthorization of a $20 Billion Multi-Year Common Equity Share Repurchase Program
• Positive Sentiment: Wells Fargo raised its price target on Morgan Stanley (MS) to $225 from $200, signaling continued analyst confidence even with an unchanged Equal Weight rating. Morgan Stanley target raised by Wells Fargo
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley Bank, N.A. received its 10th consecutive “Outstanding” Community Reinvestment Act rating from the OCC, a positive reputational update but likely not a major near-term stock driver. Morgan Stanley Bank, N.A. Receives Outstanding Rating for Community Reinvestment Initiatives
• Neutral Sentiment: Separately, Morgan Stanley lifted its call on private markets by launching new crypto ETF filings and keeping bullish sector views on names like Coca-Cola and others, but these are more commentary than direct MS earnings drivers. Morgan Stanley Launches 0.14% Ethereum And Solana ETFs With 95% Staking Rewards
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are also focused on reports that Morgan Stanley capped withdrawals in its North Haven private credit fund after redemption requests reached about 11.6% of units, reigniting worries about liquidity and private-credit stress. Morgan Stanley caps Q2 withdrawals at North Haven private credit fund
• Negative Sentiment: A broader sector selloff in alternative asset managers and private-credit names is also weighing on sentiment, helping explain why MS is slipping despite the dividend and buyback news. Morgan Stanley (MS) Sees a More Significant Dip Than Broader Market: Some Facts to Know

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $220.14 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $201.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $183.99. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $135.26 and a 1-year high of $230.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $347.22 billion, a PE ratio of 19.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 11.9 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.23%.

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

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.