Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. Acquires Shares of 20,966 Morgan Stanley $MS

Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 20,966 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,383,000.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth about $28,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1,855.6% during the 4th quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. 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 report on Friday, April 24th. Zacks Research downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $224.75.

Trending Headlines about Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain cautiously optimistic on Morgan Stanley after the company outperformed the broader market over the past year. The firm’s wealth-management scale, capital-markets exposure and earnings momentum remain key parts of the bullish thesis. Are Wall Street Analysts Predicting Morgan Stanley Stock Will Climb or Sink?
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s wealth-management strategy is receiving support from the expansion of cryptocurrency offerings, which could strengthen its broader “wealth-management flywheel” by attracting assets, increasing client engagement and creating additional fee opportunities. Morgan Stanley: Why Crypto Strengthens The Wealth Management Flywheel
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s E*TRADE platform reported monthly sector-rotation data, highlighting client trading activity across major U.S. equity sectors. The release provides market insight but does not materially change Morgan Stanley’s earnings outlook. E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley Releases Monthly Sector Rotation Study
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader Morgan Stanley research remains supportive of technology, cloud spending and AI-related infrastructure, which could benefit the firm’s investment-banking and advisory activity if elevated dealmaking continues. However, these are industry-level themes rather than new company-specific catalysts. Blackstone Has Pitched Mega Debt Package for Anthropic Chip Deal
• Negative Sentiment: The analyst outlook is not uniformly bullish: “cautiously optimistic” commentary suggests valuation and market-cycle risks remain, particularly if capital-markets activity, trading revenue or asset-management inflows weaken.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 2.9%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $217.28 on Wednesday. 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 stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $215.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $191.29. The stock has a market cap of $342.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.22. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $139.41 and a 1-year high of $232.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a $1.15 dividend. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley 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.