NewEdge Wealth LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• NewEdge Wealth LLC cut its Morgan Stanley stake by 38% in the first quarter, selling 10,001 shares and leaving it with 16,296 shares valued at about $2.68 million.
• Morgan Stanley posted strong quarterly results, beating estimates on both EPS and revenue with EPS of $3.46 and revenue of $21.35 billion, while revenue jumped 27.1% year over year.
• The company is returning more capital to shareholders through a higher quarterly dividend of $1.15 and a newly approved $20 billion share repurchase program, signaling confidence in the stock.

NewEdge Wealth LLC lowered its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 38.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,296 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 10,001 shares during the period. NewEdge Wealth LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,682,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MS. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,607,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 69.0% in the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 8,964 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,263,000 after buying an additional 3,661 shares during the period. Diversify Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 90.9% in the second quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,148 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,378,000 after buying an additional 7,688 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.3% in the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 263,575 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $37,127,000 after buying an additional 15,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 7.8% in the second quarter. Jupiter Wealth Management LLC now owns 52,825 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,805,000 after buying an additional 3,807 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on MS shares. Oppenheimer lowered Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. HSBC lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $224.50.

Key Headlines 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 Stock Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $214.11 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $136.17 and a 52 week high of $232.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. The stock has a market cap of $337.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $213.93 and a 200-day moving average of $189.97.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The business had revenue of $21.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.51%. The business's revenue was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 12.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be given a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley's previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is presently 32.34%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase program 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 programs are usually a sign that the company's board believes its stock is 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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