Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Acquires 68,010 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 258.8% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 94,285 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 68,010 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $19,709,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC lifted 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 worth $27,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Hughes Financial Services LLC grew its holdings 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

More Morgan Stanley News

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of several research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $243.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS stock opened at $217.31 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $141.03 and a twelve month high of $232.25. The firm has a market cap of $342.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.57, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.22. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $216.84 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $193.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current 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 shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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 given a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio 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.