10,259 Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Purchased by Conning Inc.

Conning Inc. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 187,376 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 10,259 shares during the period. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $35,242,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MS. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth about $78,825,883,310. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,040,227,000. Cullen Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $295,482,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the first quarter valued at approximately $110,938,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 89.7% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,410,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $232,092,000 after purchasing an additional 666,754 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Freedom Capital upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $223.00 to $217.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 price objective (down from $250.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Finally, HSBC increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $215.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, September 28th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $214.62.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.9%

Shares of MS stock opened at $190.43 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $152.80 and a 1 year high of $232.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $300.36 billion, a PE ratio of 15.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.22. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $199.06 and a two-hundred day moving average of $194.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $20.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.93 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 15.63%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.80 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 12.83 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Investors of record on Friday, October 30th will be issued a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.51%.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley was named a lead underwriter for Anthropic’s anticipated initial public offering, a high-profile mandate expected to generate substantial fees and reinforce the bank’s position in AI-related capital raising. In Anthropic IPO, Goldman and Morgan Stanley Slug It Out for Top Bank
• Positive Sentiment: The firm is also participating in a roughly $63 billion financing initiative supporting Broadcom’s AI infrastructure deployments for Anthropic. The transactions highlight Morgan Stanley’s opportunity to capture advisory, financing and underwriting revenue from expanding AI investment. Why Is Morgan Stanley Becoming Central to the AI Capital Boom?
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst commentary said artificial intelligence is helping Morgan Stanley’s Wealth Management division improve advisor productivity, expand client capacity and support recurring fee revenue. The division reportedly posted record revenue in the third quarter. Can AI Adoption Sustain Morgan Stanley’s Wealth Management Growth?
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley ranked first by value among retail M&A advisers in a GlobalData review, advising on approximately $11.8 billion of transactions. Separate Europe-wide rankings placed the firm among the leading advisers, supporting its investment-banking franchise. Morgan Stanley and Diligent Capital Lead Retail M&A Advisers List
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is participating in industry discussions around responsible AI in sustainable investing, institutional Bitcoin custody and tokenized securities. These initiatives could create future business opportunities, but their near-term earnings impact is uncertain. AI Finds Its Place in Sustainable Investment Strategies
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley economist Michael Gapen cautioned that the Federal Reserve may still need to raise interest rates after an expected October pause. Higher rates could weigh on deal activity, markets and wealth-management valuations, although the comments did not represent a company-specific downgrade. Morgan Stanley Economist Discusses Future Fed Rate Hikes

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services company that provides investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, institutions, governments and individual investors. Founded in 1935, the company is headquartered in New York City and serves clients through operations across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other international markets.

Through its Institutional Securities segment, Morgan Stanley offers investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading, research, lending and related capital-markets services.