Nykredit A S Buys Shares of 619,363 Morgan Stanley $MS

Nykredit A S bought a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 619,363 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $129,472,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 31.5% in the 2nd quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG now owns 135,636 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $28,353,000 after buying an additional 32,478 shares during the last quarter. Firestone Capital Management boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.7% in the second quarter. Firestone Capital Management now owns 2,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $514,000 after acquiring an additional 88 shares during the last quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 16.5% in the second quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,031 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,470,000 after acquiring an additional 997 shares during the last quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 4.6% during the 2nd quarter. Beacon Financial Advisory LLC now owns 2,188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $457,000 after purchasing an additional 97 shares during the period. Finally, Tsfg LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 14.4% during the 2nd quarter. Tsfg LLC now owns 1,223 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 24th. UBS Group raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Oppenheimer lowered Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $211.89 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $146.29 and a one year high of $232.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $334.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.13, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $215.68 and a 200 day simple moving average of $196.21. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.57. The business had revenue of $21.35 billion for 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%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board 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 buy up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 31st. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Rotation into big banks: Investors are favoring major financial institutions as higher-rate expectations support potential gains in net interest income and reinforce confidence in diversified banks such as Morgan Stanley. Expectations of Rising Rates and Worries About AI Have Investors Piling Into Big Bank Stocks
• Positive Sentiment: Strong operating backdrop: Morgan Stanley’s latest reported quarter showed earnings of $3.46 per share and revenue of $21.35 billion, exceeding consensus estimates. Revenue increased 27.1% year over year, while return on equity reached 19.31%, supporting the stock’s fundamental appeal.
• Positive Sentiment: Potential cost efficiencies from AI: Morgan Stanley and other major banks are pressing law firms to reduce fees as AI makes routine legal work faster. Lower outside-counsel costs could modestly improve expense efficiency, although the direct financial impact is not yet quantified. Wall Street banks push Big Law to cut fees because of AI
• Neutral Sentiment: Client activity remains a watchpoint: E*TRADE’s monthly sector-rotation study provides insight into Morgan Stanley’s brokerage-client trading behavior, but the release did not identify a specific earnings or revenue catalyst for MS. E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley Releases Monthly Sector Rotation Study
• Negative Sentiment: Rates create volatility: The recent bond selloff pushed the 10-year Treasury yield to approximately 4.79%, raising concerns about market valuations and potentially increasing pressure on investment-banking and wealth-management activity. Morgan Stanley Stock Is Up Nearly 20% in 2026: What Will It Take to Break Through $250?

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.