Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Sold by Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd

Key Points

• Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd reduced its Morgan Stanley stake by 5.7% in the first quarter, selling 7,657 shares and leaving it with 126,233 shares valued at about $20.8 million.
• Morgan Stanley reported strong quarterly results, posting EPS of $3.46 versus estimates of $2.89 and revenue of $21.35 billion, both above expectations and sharply higher than a year earlier.
• The company also announced a higher quarterly dividend of $1.15 per share and a new $20 billion share buyback authorization, while analysts currently rate the stock a consensus “Moderate Buy.”

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd decreased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 126,233 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 7,657 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $20,774,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 502 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $89,000 after buying an additional 55 shares during the period. Powers Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,443 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the period. Fielder Capital Group LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 4,216 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $748,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 3,181 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $565,000 after acquiring an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank now owns 3,915 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $695,000 after acquiring an additional 60 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on MS. Citigroup upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. CICC Research boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Evercore restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $243.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday. Finally, HSBC raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Two investment 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $224.50.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $214.11 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $136.17 and a 12-month high of $232.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $337.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $213.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $189.97.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.57. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.51% and a net margin of 15.65%.The company had revenue of $21.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 12.68 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid 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 dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.34%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has approved a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally an indication that the company's management believes its shares are undervalued.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s recent earnings results were strong, with the firm beating estimates on both EPS and revenue and posting robust year-over-year growth, which supports the stock’s longer-term fundamental case.
• Positive Sentiment: The company continues to receive constructive Wall Street commentary, including a “Moderate Buy” consensus and recent bullish analyst coverage tied to its earnings power and capital markets franchise.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent headlines also pointed to Morgan Stanley’s wealth management unit attracting new assets tied to SpaceX IPO interest, which reinforces the strength of its wealth and investment management businesses.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several unrelated market stories involving Morgan Stanley analyst calls on other stocks, plus broader AI/capex and earnings-driven volatility across large-cap tech and financials, may be influencing sentiment around MS indirectly.

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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