Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. Has $3.93 Million Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 39.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,325 shares during the period. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,926,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,253,554,000 after buying an additional 1,361,940 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 103,854,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,437,334,000 after acquiring an additional 539,544 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,070,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,786,350,000 after acquiring an additional 534,708 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,018,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,441,505,000 after acquiring an additional 524,189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 16,326,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,686,881,000 after acquiring an additional 87,533 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have weighed in on MS. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently 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 and JPMorgan increased their holdings of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs during the second quarter and added exposure to Solana and XRP products. The activity reinforces Morgan Stanley’s expansion into digital-asset products, which could support future fee and client-asset growth. Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan load up on crypto ETFs
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is among five banks advising Carlyle-backed Quest Global on a potential India IPO of up to $1 billion. The mandate could generate advisory and underwriting fees while highlighting the firm’s international capital-markets franchise. Quest Global selects banks for India IPO
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group raised its earnings estimates for Morgan Stanley, providing a supportive analyst signal following the company’s strong recent quarterly results. Erste Group lifts Morgan Stanley earnings estimates
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley adopted a more constructive view of U.S. IT hardware, citing “chipflation” and faster enterprise spending. The research may benefit the firm’s advisory and trading activity, but it is not a direct change to Morgan Stanley’s earnings outlook. Morgan Stanley turns bullish on IT hardware
• Negative Sentiment: A critical report on Morgan Stanley’s direct-lending business raised concerns about recent results and credit-market risks. Although details were limited, the negative coverage may weigh on sentiment toward the firm’s private-credit operations. Morgan Stanley direct lending results

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $217.31 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $141.03 and a 1 year high of $232.25. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $216.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $193.08. The firm has a market cap of $342.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.22.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically 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.