Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Sold by Mosley Wealth Management

Mosley Wealth Management lowered its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 81.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,943 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,519 shares during the period. Mosley Wealth Management’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $406,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Crown Wealth Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.2% during the second quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Hughes Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 55.7% in the second quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC now owns 137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 35.7% in the second quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. now owns 194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 8,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,724,000 after buying an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.5%

NYSE:MS opened at $217.31 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $216.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $193.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $342.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.22. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $141.03 and a 1-year high of $232.25. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board 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 $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 37.19%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Bank of America boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.