377,085,167 Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS Acquired by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.

Key Points

• Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group acquired 377.1 million Morgan Stanley shares, representing approximately 23.9% of the company and nearly its entire reported investment portfolio. Institutional investors collectively own 84.19% of Morgan Stanley.
• Morgan Stanley reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.46 versus the $2.89 consensus estimate and revenue up 27.1% year over year to $21.35 billion. Analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus rating with an average price target of $224.75.
• The company authorized a $20 billion share-repurchase program and raised its quarterly dividend to $1.15 per share, equivalent to a 2.1% annualized yield.

Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 377,085,167 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $78,825,883,310,000. Morgan Stanley comprises approximately 100.0% of Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its largest position. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. owned about 23.91% of Morgan Stanley at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during 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 in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings 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 lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,018,335 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,441,505,000 after acquiring an additional 524,189 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the 1st 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 purchasing an additional 87,533 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s strategists said earnings growth is broadening beyond mega-cap technology, favoring quality companies, AI adopters, large-cap financials and consumer discretionary stocks. The outlook supports sentiment toward Morgan Stanley’s own wealth-management and capital-markets businesses. Morgan Stanley Favours Quality, AI Adopters and Financials as Earnings Growth Broadens
• Positive Sentiment: General Atlantic has revived plans for a potential IPO as soon as this year, with JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley involved. A renewed IPO market could increase Morgan Stanley’s underwriting, advisory and trading revenue opportunities. General Atlantic Reignites IPO Plans With JPMorgan, Goldman and Morgan Stanley
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley has reportedly increased exposure to Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana exchange-traded products, signaling a deeper push into digital-asset offerings. The move could broaden products and fee revenue, although it also introduces additional market and regulatory risk. Morgan Stanley’s Bigger Crypto ETF Bet Might Change The Case For Investing in Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley declared regular dividends on several preferred-stock series, payable in September and October. The payments reinforce the firm’s capital-return profile but do not directly change the outlook for common-stock earnings. Morgan Stanley preferred-stock dividend declarations
• Negative Sentiment: The firm also completed roughly $7.54 million of senior unsecured medium-term note offerings with fixed coupons of 4.650% to 5.200%. The issuance supports liquidity and funding flexibility, but adds interest expense and leverage exposure. Morgan Stanley’s Bigger Crypto ETF Bet Might Change The Case For Investing in Morgan Stanley

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. HSBC upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 21st. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Two investment 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 issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.6%

NYSE:MS opened at $218.63 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $141.03 and a one year high of $232.25. 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 cap of $344.84 billion, a PE ratio of 17.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.22. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $216.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $193.33.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) 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 the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.57. The firm 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 company's revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 31st. This is a positive change 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%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.19%.

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.

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