7,641 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS Bought by Lawood & Co.

Lawood & Co. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 7,641 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,437,000. Morgan Stanley accounts for 0.9% of Lawood & Co.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 29th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MS. Marquette Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Security National Bank of SO Dak acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $235.00 to $210.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, September 30th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $260.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on 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, eleven have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $219.43.

Trending Headlines about Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Options activity was notably bullish, with traders purchasing 26,930 MS call options, approximately 63% above average call volume. This suggests increased near-term speculative interest in the stock. Morgan Stanley options activity
• Positive Sentiment: Jim Cramer backed Morgan Stanley following its pullback, pointing to the company’s buyback authorization and describing the decline as an opportunity. The commentary may be supporting sentiment among retail investors. Jim Cramer backs Morgan Stanley
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s proposal to convert eight Eaton Vance municipal-bond mutual funds, totaling nearly $10 billion, into ETFs could improve product competitiveness, provide potential tax and trading advantages for shareholders, and strengthen the firm’s asset-management platform. Shareholder approval is required. Morgan Stanley municipal funds ETF conversions
• Neutral Sentiment: Analysts are focused on projections for Morgan Stanley’s September-quarter revenue, earnings, and key operating metrics. The report could clarify whether strong investment-banking and wealth-management trends continued, but the article does not provide a definitive earnings preview or estimate revision. Morgan Stanley Q3 earnings metric projections
• Negative Sentiment: Erste Group downgraded Morgan Stanley from Buy to Hold, while TD Cowen initiated coverage with a Hold rating and a $210 price target. Although TD Cowen’s target implies upside, the Hold ratings signal limited conviction and may restrain gains. Morgan Stanley analyst rating changes

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS traded up $2.12 during trading on Friday, reaching $189.56. The stock had a trading volume of 1,634,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,143,436. 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 50 day moving average of $207.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $202.85. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $151.84 and a 1-year high of $232.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $298.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.26 and a beta of 1.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 business 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%.Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 12.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st were given a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 37.19%.

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

Morgan Stanley Profile

Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm serving corporations, governments, financial institutions, individuals and other investors. The company provides investment banking and advisory services, including mergers and acquisitions advice, equity and debt underwriting, securities sales and trading, and corporate lending.

Through its Wealth Management business, Morgan Stanley offers financial planning, brokerage, investment advisory and banking services to individual investors, businesses and institutions.