Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Sold by Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt

Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt lowered its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 22.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 993,500 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 285,600 shares during the quarter. Alecta Tjanstepension Omsesidigt owned 0.06% of Morgan Stanley worth $207,612,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Purpose Unlimited Inc. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 143.4% in the 2nd quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Atlatl Advisers LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Zacks Research downgraded Morgan Stanley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 3rd. CICC Research increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Freedom Capital raised Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $217.31 on Friday. The business's 50 day simple moving average is $216.84 and its 200-day simple moving average is $193.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $342.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $141.03 and a 12 month high of $232.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.57. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 15.65%.The business had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $19.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. The company's revenue was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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. Shareholders 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 a positive change 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%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Trending Headlines about Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan increased their holdings of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs during the second quarter and added exposure to Solana and XRP products. The activity reinforces Morgan Stanley’s expansion into digital-asset products, which could support future fee and client-asset growth. Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan load up on crypto ETFs
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is among five banks advising Carlyle-backed Quest Global on a potential India IPO of up to $1 billion. The mandate could generate advisory and underwriting fees while highlighting the firm’s international capital-markets franchise. Quest Global selects banks for India IPO
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group raised its earnings estimates for Morgan Stanley, providing a supportive analyst signal following the company’s strong recent quarterly results. Erste Group lifts Morgan Stanley earnings estimates
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley adopted a more constructive view of U.S. IT hardware, citing “chipflation” and faster enterprise spending. The research may benefit the firm’s advisory and trading activity, but it is not a direct change to Morgan Stanley’s earnings outlook. Morgan Stanley turns bullish on IT hardware
• Negative Sentiment: A critical report on Morgan Stanley’s direct-lending business raised concerns about recent results and credit-market risks. Although details were limited, the negative coverage may weigh on sentiment toward the firm’s private-credit operations. Morgan Stanley direct lending results

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.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source