GAMMA Investing LLC Has $8.28 Million Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 12.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 39,630 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,523 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $8,284,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 29,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,281,000 after purchasing an additional 8,512 shares during the last quarter. BOCHK Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,260,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 11.2% in the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 646,571 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $116,102,000 after purchasing an additional 65,246 shares during the last quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter worth $8,854,000. Finally, Arsenal Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $814,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, July 2nd. Oppenheimer cut Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Two research 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain cautiously optimistic on Morgan Stanley after the company outperformed the broader market over the past year. The firm’s wealth-management scale, capital-markets exposure and earnings momentum remain key parts of the bullish thesis. Are Wall Street Analysts Predicting Morgan Stanley Stock Will Climb or Sink?
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s wealth-management strategy is receiving support from the expansion of cryptocurrency offerings, which could strengthen its broader “wealth-management flywheel” by attracting assets, increasing client engagement and creating additional fee opportunities. Morgan Stanley: Why Crypto Strengthens The Wealth Management Flywheel
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s E*TRADE platform reported monthly sector-rotation data, highlighting client trading activity across major U.S. equity sectors. The release provides market insight but does not materially change Morgan Stanley’s earnings outlook. E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley Releases Monthly Sector Rotation Study
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader Morgan Stanley research remains supportive of technology, cloud spending and AI-related infrastructure, which could benefit the firm’s investment-banking and advisory activity if elevated dealmaking continues. However, these are industry-level themes rather than new company-specific catalysts. Blackstone Has Pitched Mega Debt Package for Anthropic Chip Deal
• Negative Sentiment: The analyst outlook is not uniformly bullish: “cautiously optimistic” commentary suggests valuation and market-cycle risks remain, particularly if capital-markets activity, trading revenue or asset-management inflows weaken.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS opened at $217.28 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $215.82 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $191.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $342.72 billion, a PE ratio of 17.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.22. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $139.41 and a 52 week high of $232.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.57. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.51% and a net margin of 15.65%.The company had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

Morgan Stanley declared that its board 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 purchase up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

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.