CoreCap Advisors LLC Sells 29,380 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• CoreCap Advisors cut its Morgan Stanley position by 91.6% in the second quarter, selling 29,380 shares and retaining 2,701 shares valued at approximately $565,000. Institutional investors collectively own 84.19% of MS stock.
• Morgan Stanley reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.46 and revenue of $21.35 billion, both above analyst estimates; revenue increased 27.1% year over year. 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 from $1.00 to $1.15 per share, representing an annualized dividend of $4.60 and a 2.1% yield.

CoreCap Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 91.6% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,701 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 29,380 shares during the period. CoreCap Advisors LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $565,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MS. Norges Bank bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,736,648,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 29.1% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,917,776 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,648,354,000 after acquiring an additional 3,364,080 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 142.4% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,122,060 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $511,723,000 after acquiring an additional 1,833,844 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in 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 during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2,332.9% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,406,495 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $249,710,000 after acquiring an additional 1,348,683 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Citigroup lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. HSBC raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Two 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $216.23 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $141.03 and a 52-week high of $232.25. The stock has a market cap of $341.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.48, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $216.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $191.84.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 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 the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock buyback 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 repurchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm 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. 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 yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley hired Adam Kweskin, a diversified-industries banker from Bank of America, to join its Global Industrials Investment Banking Group. The addition could strengthen the firm’s dealmaking capacity and support investment-banking fees if corporate activity remains robust. Morgan Stanley hires BofA’s Kweskin to cover diversified industries
• Positive Sentiment: Reports highlighted improving capital-markets conditions and continued strength in Morgan Stanley’s wealth-management business, reinforcing the investment case for its more diversified revenue mix. Why Is Wealth Management Anchoring Morgan Stanley?
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley-led banks are reportedly preparing to distribute approximately $15 billion of debt associated with a Google-backed Anthropic data center. The transaction underscores Morgan Stanley’s opportunity to generate fees from the rapidly expanding artificial-intelligence infrastructure financing market. Morgan Stanley-led banks to offload debt tied to Anthropic data center
• Neutral Sentiment: Approval of a key element of Morgan Stanley’s proposed billion-dollar Dallas regional hub represents a long-term investment in its operating footprint, though the project is not expected to materially affect near-term earnings. Morgan Stanley’s possible downtown hub gets sign approval
• Neutral Sentiment: The firm’s second-quarter Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund update provides additional visibility into its private-credit platform, but the available report does not include enough detail to determine a meaningful impact on MS valuation. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund Posts Q2 2026 Results
• Negative Sentiment: Another Morgan Stanley banker reportedly moved to Abu Dhabi’s ADNOC, highlighting the ongoing risk of losing experienced dealmakers as global energy and investment activity intensifies. Another Morgan Stanley Banker Lands Top Investment Role at ADNOC

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

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