OLD Second National Bank of Aurora Sells 3,177 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

OLD Second National Bank of Aurora reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.7% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 52,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,177 shares during the quarter. Morgan Stanley makes up about 2.1% of OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s portfolio, making the stock its 13th largest holding. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $10,948,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 103,854,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,437,334,000 after acquiring an additional 539,544 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,070,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,786,350,000 after acquiring an additional 534,708 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.1% during the fourth 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 increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the first 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.5%

MS stock opened at $217.31 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $141.03 and a 1-year high of $232.25. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $216.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $193.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $342.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.57, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.22.

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, 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 31st. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.19%.

Key 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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.75.

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.