Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Purchased by TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 24.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 583,289 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 113,515 shares during the period. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $123,648,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marquette Asset Management LLC grew its position 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 during the last quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 55.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC now owns 137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are favoring major banks on the view that higher rates could support net interest income and financial-sector earnings. Morgan Stanley’s strong recent results— including a quarterly EPS beat, 27.1% year-over-year revenue growth and 19.3% return on equity—provide additional fundamental support. Expectations of Rising Rates and Worries About AI Have Investors Piling Into Big Bank Stocks
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s research franchise remains active, including a bullish view on Robinhood, Galaxy Digital and selected AI-related companies. Such calls may reinforce the firm’s market visibility and support expectations for continued trading, advisory and wealth-management activity. Robinhood Markets Stock Opinions on Analyst Upgrades and Blockchain Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley will host its Laguna and Global Healthcare conferences, featuring companies including Southwest Airlines, Eaton, Attovia, EyePoint and Zoetis. The events support client engagement and deal flow but do not represent a direct change to MS’s financial outlook.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent filings show Morgan Stanley increased its institutional position in Cipher Digital and Amwell while reducing its stake in CXM and EyePoint. These portfolio changes are not material catalysts for Morgan Stanley’s stock and may reflect client or investment-management activity.
• Negative Sentiment: Higher-rate expectations can also weigh on bond valuations and raise funding costs, while continued technology-sector volatility could hurt market sentiment and reduce risk-taking across parts of Morgan Stanley’s trading and investment-banking businesses. Morgan Stanley Says U.S. Debt Fears Miss Bigger Story

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on MS shares. UBS Group increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 2.6%

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $217.30 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65. The firm has a market cap of $342.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.57, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $215.61 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $196.53. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $146.29 and a 12-month high of $232.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.57. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was 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.