Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Sold by EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC

EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC cut its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 37.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,380 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 8,694 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,006,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $2,736,648,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,917,776 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,648,354,000 after acquiring an additional 3,364,080 shares during the period. 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 worth $511,723,000 after acquiring an additional 1,833,844 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 1,361,940 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in 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 valued at $249,710,000 after purchasing an additional 1,348,683 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have commented on MS shares. Dbs Bank upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Evercore reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Freedom Capital raised Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $243.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS stock opened at $217.31 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $216.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $193.08. The company has a market capitalization of $342.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.57, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $141.03 and a fifty-two week high of $232.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $19.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. Morgan Stanley's quarterly revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st were issued a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to buy up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company's board of directors believes its shares are 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 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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