20,966 Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS Purchased by Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co.

Key Points

• Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. purchased 20,966 Morgan Stanley shares in the second quarter, valued at approximately $4.38 million. Institutional investors collectively own 84.19% of the company.
• Morgan Stanley reported a strong latest quarter, with earnings of $3.46 per share and revenue of $21.35 billion, exceeding analyst estimates. Revenue rose 27.1% year over year.
• The company authorized a $20 billion share-repurchase program and raised its quarterly dividend to $1.15 per share. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $224.75, though valuation and market-cycle risks remain.

Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 20,966 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,383,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MS. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 8,512 shares during the period. BOCHK Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $1,260,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 11.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 65,246 shares in the last quarter. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at about $8,854,000. Finally, Arsenal Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $814,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts remain cautiously optimistic on Morgan Stanley after the company outperformed the broader market over the past year. The firm’s wealth-management scale, capital-markets exposure and earnings momentum remain key parts of the bullish thesis. Are Wall Street Analysts Predicting Morgan Stanley Stock Will Climb or Sink?
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s wealth-management strategy is receiving support from the expansion of cryptocurrency offerings, which could strengthen its broader “wealth-management flywheel” by attracting assets, increasing client engagement and creating additional fee opportunities. Morgan Stanley: Why Crypto Strengthens The Wealth Management Flywheel
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s E*TRADE platform reported monthly sector-rotation data, highlighting client trading activity across major U.S. equity sectors. The release provides market insight but does not materially change Morgan Stanley’s earnings outlook. E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley Releases Monthly Sector Rotation Study
• Neutral Sentiment: Broader Morgan Stanley research remains supportive of technology, cloud spending and AI-related infrastructure, which could benefit the firm’s investment-banking and advisory activity if elevated dealmaking continues. However, these are industry-level themes rather than new company-specific catalysts. Blackstone Has Pitched Mega Debt Package for Anthropic Chip Deal
• Negative Sentiment: The analyst outlook is not uniformly bullish: “cautiously optimistic” commentary suggests valuation and market-cycle risks remain, particularly if capital-markets activity, trading revenue or asset-management inflows weaken.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS opened at $217.28 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $342.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $215.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $191.29. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $139.41 and a 52-week high of $232.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.57. The company had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.51%. Morgan Stanley's revenue was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is presently 37.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have commented on MS. HSBC increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Zacks Research lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. 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. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $224.75.

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.

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