Xcel Wealth Management LLC Sells 4,085 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Xcel Wealth Management LLC reduced its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 9.1% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 40,660 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,085 shares during the quarter. Morgan Stanley accounts for about 2.0% of Xcel Wealth Management LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Xcel Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $8,500,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Marquette Asset Management LLC boosted 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 valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 55.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC now owns 137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Finally, Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s strategists said earnings growth is broadening beyond mega-cap technology, favoring quality companies, AI adopters, large-cap financials and consumer discretionary stocks. The outlook supports sentiment toward Morgan Stanley’s own wealth-management and capital-markets businesses. Morgan Stanley Favours Quality, AI Adopters and Financials as Earnings Growth Broadens
• Positive Sentiment: General Atlantic has revived plans for a potential IPO as soon as this year, with JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley involved. A renewed IPO market could increase Morgan Stanley’s underwriting, advisory and trading revenue opportunities. General Atlantic Reignites IPO Plans With JPMorgan, Goldman and Morgan Stanley
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley has reportedly increased exposure to Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana exchange-traded products, signaling a deeper push into digital-asset offerings. The move could broaden products and fee revenue, although it also introduces additional market and regulatory risk. Morgan Stanley’s Bigger Crypto ETF Bet Might Change The Case For Investing in Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley declared regular dividends on several preferred-stock series, payable in September and October. The payments reinforce the firm’s capital-return profile but do not directly change the outlook for common-stock earnings. Morgan Stanley preferred-stock dividend declarations
• Negative Sentiment: The firm also completed roughly $7.54 million of senior unsecured medium-term note offerings with fixed coupons of 4.650% to 5.200%. The issuance supports liquidity and funding flexibility, but adds interest expense and leverage exposure. Morgan Stanley’s Bigger Crypto ETF Bet Might Change The Case For Investing in Morgan Stanley

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $211.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $218.63 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65. The stock has a market cap of $344.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.22. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $216.97 and its 200-day moving average price is $193.33. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $141.03 and a 52 week high of $232.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.57. The company 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%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley declared 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 outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

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.