NewEdge Advisors LLC Has $40.35 Million Stock Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• NewEdge Advisors reduced its Morgan Stanley position by 5.3% in the first quarter, selling 13,634 shares and retaining 245,197 shares valued at approximately $40.35 million. Institutional investors collectively own 84.19% of the company.
• Morgan Stanley reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.46 and revenue of $21.35 billion, surpassing analyst expectations. Analysts maintain a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating with an average price target of $224.75, although views remain mixed.
• The company raised its quarterly dividend to $1.15 per share and authorized a $20 billion share-repurchase program, allowing buybacks of up to 5.6% of outstanding shares.

NewEdge Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 5.3% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 245,197 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 13,634 shares during the quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $40,352,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth approximately $28,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 1,855.6% during the fourth quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 176 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on MS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $211.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s possible billion-dollar regional hub in downtown Dallas received approval for a key planning element, supporting the firm’s long-term growth and talent-retention strategy in the region. Morgan Stanley's possible downtown hub gets sign approval
• Positive Sentiment: Wealth management remains an important stabilizing factor for Morgan Stanley, providing recurring fee revenue and diversification from more market-sensitive investment-banking and trading operations. Why Is Wealth Management Anchoring Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst views remain mixed, suggesting investors may be reassessing Morgan Stanley’s valuation after its strong earnings performance. The company previously reported quarterly EPS of $3.46 and revenue of $21.35 billion, both above consensus estimates.
• Negative Sentiment: A Morgan Stanley-led banking group is reportedly preparing to sell roughly $15 billion of debt connected to a Google-backed Anthropic data center. The transaction could generate fees, but investors may be concerned about exposure to heavily leveraged AI infrastructure financing and the possibility that banks are transferring risk to the market. Morgan Stanley-led banks to offload debt tied to Anthropic data center

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS stock opened at $213.99 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65. The company has a market capitalization of $337.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.22. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $140.60 and a 12 month high of $232.25. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $216.36 and a two-hundred day moving average of $191.66.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. Morgan Stanley's quarterly revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has authorized 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 buy up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

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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