Merit Financial Group LLC Acquires 6,200 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Merit Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 106,437 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 6,200 shares during the quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $22,250,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Purpose Unlimited Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Hughes Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 55.7% during the second quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC now owns 137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Higher earnings expectations provide support. Erste Group Bank raised its earnings estimates for Morgan Stanley, reinforcing the view that strong investment-banking, wealth-management and trading activity could continue to improve profitability. Erste Group Bank Lifts Earnings Estimates for Morgan Stanley
• Positive Sentiment: Digital-asset strategy is expanding. Morgan Stanley is broadening its cryptocurrency platform with Ethereum and Solana exchange-traded products, staking capabilities and additional digital-asset services. The initiative could create new fee revenue and strengthen the firm’s competitive position in wealth management, although financial benefits may take time to develop. How Is Morgan Stanley Strengthening Its Position in Digital Assets?
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage highlights growth opportunities. Morgan Stanley research remains constructive on areas including Sea’s spending and SpaceX’s valuation potential. These reports may raise the firm’s visibility and research-related activity but have limited direct impact on Morgan Stanley’s earnings. Morgan Stanley Sees Sea’s Spending Building Earnings Power
• Negative Sentiment: Direct lending remains a concern. A recent analysis argues that Morgan Stanley’s direct-lending results show additional problems, potentially raising questions about credit quality, private-credit returns and the firm’s alternative-investments platform. This could temper enthusiasm around the broader earnings outlook. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending: New Results Just Showed More Problems

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Oppenheimer downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. HSBC raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE:MS opened at $218.59 on Friday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $216.74 and a 200-day moving average of $192.83. The company has a market cap of $344.78 billion, a PE ratio of 17.67, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.22. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $141.03 and a one year high of $232.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.57. The business had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.