BFI Infinity Ltd. Buys Shares of 20,573 Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• BFI Infinity Ltd. acquired 20,573 Morgan Stanley shares worth approximately $4.3 million, making the stock its 13th-largest holding at 1.3% of its portfolio.
• Institutional investors own 84.19% of Morgan Stanley, while analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $224.75.
• Morgan Stanley reported a strong quarter, with EPS of $3.46 and revenue of $21.35 billion, and increased its quarterly dividend to $1.15 while authorizing a $20 billion share-repurchase program.

BFI Infinity Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 20,573 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,301,000. Morgan Stanley comprises about 1.3% of BFI Infinity Ltd.'s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest position.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $21,253,554,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361,940 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,070,557 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,786,350,000 after purchasing an additional 534,708 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,018,335 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $4,441,505,000 after purchasing an additional 524,189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the first 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 during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MS. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a "sector perform" rating and set a $243.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Bank of America lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Dbs Bank boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. Two 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 issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $224.75.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley launched a $1.5 trillion innovation and infrastructure initiative designed to support investment in technology, advanced manufacturing, energy and other strategic sectors. The effort could strengthen the firm’s long-term investment-banking, asset-management and advisory opportunities. Morgan Stanley starts $1.5T innovation infrastructure initiative
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley upgraded Hewlett Packard Enterprise to Overweight and set a $69 price target, citing improving enterprise-infrastructure growth, earnings potential and cash generation. The call highlights the bank’s ability to generate advisory and trading activity around technology and infrastructure themes. Hewlett Packard Stock Rises After Morgan Stanley Upgrade
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley continues expanding its fixed-income activity through new and recently completed medium-term note offerings carrying coupons of roughly 4.5% to 5.2% and maturities from 2029 through 2036. The issuance supports funding and liquidity but may keep investors focused on borrowing costs and whether the stock’s valuation already reflects strong earnings. Morgan Stanley expands fixed income activity
• Neutral Sentiment: KBRA assigned preliminary ratings to ten classes of certificates in a $418.1 million Morgan Stanley-sponsored residential mortgage-backed securities transaction. The deal demonstrates continued securitization activity, although its meaningful non-prime mortgage exposure could draw additional attention to credit quality and market-risk management. KBRA assigns preliminary ratings to Morgan Stanley mortgage trust
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley-backed renewable developer PNE said potential buyers appear unwilling to meet its market valuation, casting doubt on whether a sale will occur. While the issue is not central to Morgan Stanley’s earnings, it could modestly weigh on sentiment toward the firm’s involvement in the transaction. Morgan Stanley-backed PNE sale prospects unclear

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.8%

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $214.56 on Tuesday. The company's 50 day moving average price is $216.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $192.08. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $141.03 and a 52-week high of $232.25. The company has a market capitalization of $338.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.22.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.57. The business had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.31%. Morgan Stanley's revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has approved 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 reacquire up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

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.

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