Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Purchased by OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 21.7% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 87,785 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,669 shares during the quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $14,447,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 29,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,281,000 after buying an additional 8,512 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 679.8% during the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 42,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,527,000 after acquiring an additional 36,963 shares during the last quarter. BOCHK Asset Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,260,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.2% in the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 646,571 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $116,102,000 after acquiring an additional 65,246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at approximately $8,854,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s recent earnings results were strong, with the firm beating estimates on both EPS and revenue and posting robust year-over-year growth, which supports the stock’s longer-term fundamental case.
• Positive Sentiment: The company continues to receive constructive Wall Street commentary, including a “Moderate Buy” consensus and recent bullish analyst coverage tied to its earnings power and capital markets franchise.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent headlines also pointed to Morgan Stanley’s wealth management unit attracting new assets tied to SpaceX IPO interest, which reinforces the strength of its wealth and investment management businesses.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several unrelated market stories involving Morgan Stanley analyst calls on other stocks, plus broader AI/capex and earnings-driven volatility across large-cap tech and financials, may be influencing sentiment around MS indirectly.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $214.11 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $213.93 and its two-hundred day moving average is $189.99. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $136.17 and a 12 month high of $232.25. The company has a market capitalization of $337.71 billion, a PE ratio of 17.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its 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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.51%. The company had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 12.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm 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 payout ratio is currently 32.34%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently commented on MS shares. Citigroup boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Dbs Bank raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.50.

About Morgan Stanley

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.