Plato Investment Management Ltd Buys Shares of 48,226 Morgan Stanley $MS

Plato Investment Management Ltd purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 48,226 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,022,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Marquette Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings 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 worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the last quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at $28,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 55.7% during 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 during the last quarter. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. Finally, Purpose Unlimited Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $218.63 on Tuesday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $344.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.22. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $141.03 and a 12 month high of $232.25. The business’s 50-day moving average is $216.97 and its 200 day moving average is $193.33.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $21.35 billion during 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 firm’s revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has initiated a share buyback 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 reacquire up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st were given a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 31st. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.19%.

Trending Headlines about Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s strategists said earnings growth is broadening beyond mega-cap technology, favoring quality companies, AI adopters, large-cap financials and consumer discretionary stocks. The outlook supports sentiment toward Morgan Stanley’s own wealth-management and capital-markets businesses. Morgan Stanley Favours Quality, AI Adopters and Financials as Earnings Growth Broadens
• Positive Sentiment: General Atlantic has revived plans for a potential IPO as soon as this year, with JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley involved. A renewed IPO market could increase Morgan Stanley’s underwriting, advisory and trading revenue opportunities. General Atlantic Reignites IPO Plans With JPMorgan, Goldman and Morgan Stanley
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley has reportedly increased exposure to Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana exchange-traded products, signaling a deeper push into digital-asset offerings. The move could broaden products and fee revenue, although it also introduces additional market and regulatory risk. Morgan Stanley’s Bigger Crypto ETF Bet Might Change The Case For Investing in Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley declared regular dividends on several preferred-stock series, payable in September and October. The payments reinforce the firm’s capital-return profile but do not directly change the outlook for common-stock earnings. Morgan Stanley preferred-stock dividend declarations
• Negative Sentiment: The firm also completed roughly $7.54 million of senior unsecured medium-term note offerings with fixed coupons of 4.650% to 5.200%. The issuance supports liquidity and funding flexibility, but adds interest expense and leverage exposure. Morgan Stanley’s Bigger Crypto ETF Bet Might Change The Case For Investing in Morgan Stanley

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of several research reports. Bank of America raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, July 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. Finally, Zacks Research cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.75.

About Morgan Stanley

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.