True North Advisors LLC Decreases Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

True North Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 47.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,201 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 10,002 shares during the quarter. True North Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,341,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Crown Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $320,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC increased 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 worth $29,000 after buying an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 35.7% during the second quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. now owns 194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 51 shares during the last quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the second quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 8,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,724,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $89,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. HSBC raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Oppenheimer cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $217.31 on Friday. 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 company has a market capitalization of $342.76 billion, a PE ratio of 17.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.22. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $216.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $193.00. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $141.03 and a 12 month high of $232.25.

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 the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.57. The business had revenue of $21.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. Analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has approved a share buyback plan on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st were 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 was Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 37.19%.

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.