Boston Trust Walden Corp Purchases 6,604 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Boston Trust Walden increased its Morgan Stanley position by 3.2% in the second quarter, acquiring 6,604 shares for a total holding of 215,325 shares valued at approximately $45 million. Institutional investors collectively own 84.19% of the company.
• Morgan Stanley reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.46 versus the $2.89 consensus and revenue of $21.35 billion, up 27.1% year over year. Shares recently opened at $218.63, near their 52-week high of $232.25.
• The firm raised its quarterly dividend to $1.15 per share and authorized a $20 billion share-repurchase program. Analyst sentiment remains a “Moderate Buy,” with a consensus price target of $224.75, though recent ratings range from underperform to strong buy.

Boston Trust Walden Corp raised its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 215,325 shares of the financial services provider's stock after acquiring an additional 6,604 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $45,012,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter worth approximately $8,854,000. KTF Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $15,945,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 201.0% in the 1st quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,559 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,890,000 after buying an additional 11,726 shares in the last quarter. Arsenal Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $814,000. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 132.1% in the fourth quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 28,655 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $5,087,000 after acquiring an additional 16,308 shares during the period. 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: 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

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $218.63 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $216.97 and a 200 day simple moving average of $193.33. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $141.03 and a fifty-two week high of $232.25. The firm has a market cap of $344.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 15.65%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Oppenheimer cut Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. HSBC increased their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. 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 given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price 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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