Curated Wealth Partners LLC Sells 114,986 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Curated Wealth Partners cut its Morgan Stanley stake by 97.5% in the third quarter, selling 114,986 shares and retaining 2,942 shares valued at approximately $553,000. Institutional investors collectively own 84.19% of Morgan Stanley.
• Morgan Stanley exceeded third-quarter expectations, reporting $3.03 in EPS and $20.34 billion in revenue, helped by strong wealth-management results and a 41% year-over-year increase in equities trading revenue.
• Analyst sentiment remains cautiously positive, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $214.86, while concerns about the company’s trading-heavy growth mix weighed on the stock. Morgan Stanley also declared a $1.15 quarterly dividend and maintains a $20 billion share-repurchase authorization.

Curated Wealth Partners LLC trimmed its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 97.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,942 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 114,986 shares during the period. Curated Wealth Partners LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth $78,825,883,310. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,040,227,000. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 142.4% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,122,060 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $511,723,000 after buying an additional 1,833,844 shares during the last quarter. Cullen Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $295,482,000. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $110,938,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on MS shares. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $223.00 to $217.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Morgan Stanley from $250.00 to $215.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 6th. HSBC raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $215.00 to $219.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $260.00 to $236.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $230.00 price target (down from $250.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $214.86.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Record wealth-management results, including approximately $9.1 billion in revenue, strong net new assets and $10.5 trillion in wealth assets, reinforced Morgan Stanley’s long-term growth strategy. Morgan Stanley Q3 profit hits $4.9bn on wealth gains and IPO inflows
• Positive Sentiment: Equities trading revenue surged 41% year over year, helping drive the earnings and revenue outperformance. Management also highlighted opportunities from AI financing and disciplined capital allocation. Morgan Stanley Q3 Earnings Call Highlights Wealth and AI Strategy
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley declared a quarterly dividend of $1.15 per share, equivalent to $4.60 annually and a stated yield of about 2.5%, providing ongoing shareholder support.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains mixed: JPMorgan raised its target to $198 while maintaining a Neutral rating, but Citigroup, TD Cowen and KBW lowered their targets to $190, $205 and $230, respectively. Morgan Stanley Analysts Cut Their Forecasts After Q3 Results
• Negative Sentiment: Investors appeared concerned that growth was concentrated in equities and trading, while profitability metrics and the business mix were less compelling. The strong beat therefore did not translate into higher valuation expectations. Morgan Stanley Beats on Earnings, But Shares Fall on Trading Mix

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.8%

MS opened at $180.73 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $204.40 and a 200 day moving average of $203.48. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $152.80 and a 12 month high of $232.25. The firm has a market cap of $285.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $20.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.93 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 15.63%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.80 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.64 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business 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 dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is currently 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share repurchase program on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm serving corporations, governments, financial institutions, individuals and other investors. The company provides investment banking and advisory services, including mergers and acquisitions advice, equity and debt underwriting, securities sales and trading, and corporate lending.

Through its Wealth Management business, Morgan Stanley offers financial planning, brokerage, investment advisory and banking services to individual investors, businesses and institutions.

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