33,987 Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS Acquired by S&CO Inc.

S&CO Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 33,987 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,104,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MS. Purpose Unlimited Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 143.4% during the 2nd 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 during the last quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $243.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, July 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. HSBC increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Daiwa Securities Group raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.75.

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

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $218.63 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $216.97 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $193.33. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $141.03 and a 12-month high of $232.25. The firm has a market cap of $344.84 billion, a PE ratio of 17.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $21.35 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share 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 stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

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.