Fifth Third Bancorp Increases Stock Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Fifth Third Bancorp increased its Morgan Stanley stake by 17.4% in the first quarter, buying 266,445 more shares and lifting its position to 1.8 million shares worth about $296.2 million.
• Morgan Stanley’s recent quarterly results were strong, with earnings of $3.43 per share beating expectations and revenue rising 16% year over year to $20.58 billion.
• The company also announced a $20 billion share repurchase program and maintained its quarterly dividend of $1.00 per share, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus Moderate Buy.

Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 17.4% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,799,762 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 266,445 shares during the quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp owned approximately 0.11% of Morgan Stanley worth $296,187,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.8% in the first quarter. Glass Wealth Management Co LLC now owns 30,819 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,072,000 after purchasing an additional 850 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 23.5% during the first quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC now owns 5,446 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $896,000 after buying an additional 1,038 shares during the last quarter. Candriam S.C.A. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 7.3% in the first quarter. Candriam S.C.A. now owns 461,887 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $76,013,000 after purchasing an additional 31,590 shares during the last quarter. Conning Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 18.0% during the 1st quarter. Conning Inc. now owns 225,677 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $37,140,000 after buying an additional 34,395 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.0% during the first quarter. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC now owns 9,212 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,516,000 after purchasing an additional 911 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total transaction of $2,120,758.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares in the company, valued at $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the transaction, the insider owned 282,142 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $53,209,159.78. The trade was a 15.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners announced it entered exclusivity to acquire a majority stake in Nicollin Environnement, a French environmental services company. The move highlights MS’s private-markets and infrastructure investing capabilities beyond traditional banking. Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners Enters Into Agreement to Acquire Majority Stake in Nicollin Environnement
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and media coverage continued to frame Morgan Stanley as a beneficiary of strong banking results heading into Q2 earnings season, with bank earnings generally expected to be solid and supporting sentiment for large financial stocks like MS. Bank Earnings Look Strong Ahead of Q2: ETFs in Focus
• Neutral Sentiment: Separate commentary said Morgan Stanley warned that the AI chip rally may be losing momentum, but this is more a macro/sector view than a direct catalyst for MS shares. Morgan Stanley warns AI chip rally may be running out of steam

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $222.21. 3,617,619 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,448,374. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $208.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $187.26. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $135.26 and a 12-month high of $230.47. The company has a market cap of $350.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The business had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.60 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.98 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share 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 repurchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.8%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is 36.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the subject of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $179.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. HSBC upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued 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 has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $215.20.

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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