3,151 Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS Acquired by Levin Capital Strategies L.P.

Levin Capital Strategies L.P. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 3,151 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $519,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Purpose Unlimited Inc. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at $28,000. Finally, Lodestone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on MS. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Zacks Research cut Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. HSBC upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target 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, UBS Group boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $214.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.50.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $215.26 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $213.50 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $189.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $136.17 and a fifty-two week high of $232.25. The company has a market cap of $339.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.40, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its 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. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.51% and a net margin of 15.65%.The firm had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.67 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 12.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be issued a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. 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%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 32.34%.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s own analysts highlighted supportive themes in other names, including stronger earnings, M&A momentum, and constructive AI/cloud spending trends, which reinforces the firm’s research credibility and may help sentiment around MS’s advisory and markets businesses.
• Positive Sentiment: The bank has been cited in recent commentary about a potential M&A boom and a strong first half for Wall Street, which could support expectations for investment banking and deal-related fees at Morgan Stanley (MS). Morgan Stanley stock in focus as Goldman Sachs predicts an M&A boom
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley was also mentioned as part of broader market coverage around strong U.S. banking results and analyst upgrades, but these items were not direct company-specific catalysts for MS.
• Negative Sentiment: The stock has faced some pressure from investors focusing more on what Morgan Stanley is saying about the market than on MS itself, especially AI spending, which is seen as huge but potentially less immediately profitable for U.S. investors.
• Negative Sentiment: Recent industry-wide risk-off trading and weakness across mega-cap tech and the Nasdaq have also weighed on financial stocks, limiting upside in Morgan Stanley (MS) despite its strong fundamentals.

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.