Morgan Stanley $MS Position Lessened by State Street Corp

State Street Corp lowered its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.8% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 99,560,815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 1,779,379 shares during the quarter. State Street Corp owned approximately 0.06% of Morgan Stanley worth $20,812,193,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Crown Wealth Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $320,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 55.7% in the second quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC now owns 137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 35.7% during the second quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. now owns 194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares in the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the second quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 8,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,724,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank OZK lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.0% in the second quarter. Bank OZK now owns 1,815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Erste Group Bank cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Citigroup increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Bank of America raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned 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.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.75.

More Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are participating in a reported $17.2 billion China technology investment boom, highlighting the firm’s access to cross-border technology and AI-related business opportunities. Goldman, Morgan Stanley Ride China Tech Boom
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley says corporate AI adoption remains in its early stages, suggesting potentially significant long-term opportunities for advisory, financing, investment-management and technology-related revenue as businesses scale AI spending. Morgan Stanley Says AI Adoption Has Barely Started
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley Investment Management’s 1GT strategy led a $56 million funding round for Australia-based Amber Electric, demonstrating continued activity in growth equity and climate-focused private investments. Morgan Stanley 1GT Leads Amber Electric Funding Round
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is collaborating with the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange on a New York investor roadshow, which could support international capital-markets activity but is unlikely to materially affect near-term earnings. ADX Global Investor Roadshow
• Negative Sentiment: Investors are reportedly seeking to withdraw 11.4% of shares from a Morgan Stanley private-credit fund. Elevated redemption requests could raise concerns about liquidity, fee pressure and broader investor appetite for private-market products. Morgan Stanley Private Credit Fund Redemptions
• Negative Sentiment: Erste Group Bank cut Morgan Stanley to “Hold,” adding to valuation concerns after the stock’s substantial advance and potentially limiting near-term upside expectations. Morgan Stanley Cut to Hold
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley strategists warned that higher bond yields and elevated oil prices could divert money from equities and weaken consumer spending, creating a less favorable backdrop for trading, asset management and investment banking. Warning of a Big Sell-Off

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MS traded down $6.38 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $199.74. 3,731,557 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 6,187,516. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company’s 50 day moving average is $214.00 and its 200 day moving average is $199.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $315.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.21. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $151.84 and a one year high of $232.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 12.82 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st were given 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 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley Profile

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services company that provides investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services. The company serves corporations, governments, financial institutions, individuals and institutional investors through a range of advisory, capital-raising, trading and investment-related activities.

Morgan Stanley’s Institutional Securities business offers investment banking services, including mergers and acquisitions advice, underwriting and capital markets services.