BG Investment Services LLC Purchases New Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• BG Investment Services purchased 11,658 Morgan Stanley shares worth approximately $2.2 million in the third quarter, while institutional investors collectively own 84.19% of the stock.
• Morgan Stanley exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $3.03 in earnings per share and $20.34 billion in revenue, up 11.6% year over year.
• The stock recently traded at $179.40, down 2.5%, while analysts maintain a “Moderate Buy” consensus with an average price target of $214.62; the company also declared a quarterly dividend of $1.15 per share.

BG Investment Services LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 11,658 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,193,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at $78,825,883,310. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 16,326,676 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,686,881,000 after buying an additional 87,533 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.7% during the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,206,144 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,342,532,000 after buying an additional 188,296 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.5% in the first quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 9,794,288 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,611,846,000 after acquiring an additional 422,775 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.9% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,235,756 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,190,585,000 after acquiring an additional 65,739 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 2.5%

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $179.40 on Friday. 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 $152.80 and a 52 week high of $232.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $282.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.24, a PEG ratio of 1.20 and a beta of 1.22. The stock's fifty day moving average is $200.92 and its 200 day moving average is $204.10.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.10. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 15.63%. The business had revenue of $20.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley's revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be given a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is presently 36.51%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, October 16th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $223.00 to $217.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Evercore reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $214.62.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is expanding its wealth-management strategy in the United Kingdom, targeting the country’s substantial pool of household savings. The initiative supports the firm’s long-term effort to diversify beyond market-sensitive investment banking and equities activity. Morgan Stanley Bets on UK Savers After Equities Revenue Jumps 41%
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage highlighting a 41% increase in equities revenue reinforces the strength of Morgan Stanley’s trading and institutional-securities businesses, adding support to the company’s recent earnings momentum.
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are positioning asset tokenization as a significant growth opportunity. Wider adoption of tokenized financial assets could create new investment-banking, trading, custody and wealth-management revenue streams over time. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley Frame Tokenization as Key Growth Opportunity
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent commentary notes that Morgan Stanley has fallen about 11% over the past month and questions whether the decline reflects an attractive entry point or an elevated valuation. This framing may be contributing to short-term caution, even though it is not a new company-specific warning. Morgan Stanley Just Dropped 11% in a Month
• Neutral Sentiment: Higher price targets for Morgan Stanley preferred stock are relevant primarily to preferred shareholders and have limited direct implications for the common stock.
• Negative Sentiment: With the common shares trading below their 50-day and 200-day moving averages, investors may be taking profits or reducing exposure after a strong run, despite solid fundamentals. This technical and valuation pressure appears to be the most likely explanation for the weaker share performance today.

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley NYSE: MS is a global financial services company that provides investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, institutions, governments and individual investors. Founded in 1935, the company is headquartered in New York City and serves clients through operations across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other international markets.

Through its Institutional Securities segment, Morgan Stanley offers investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading, research, lending and related capital-markets services.

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