Leonteq Securities AG Reduces Stock Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Leonteq Securities AG cut its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 91.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 101,839 shares during the period. Leonteq Securities AG’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,632,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 4,216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $748,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $314,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Financial Services LTD. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 3,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $635,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley won conditional OCC approval for a national digital asset trust bank, giving it a regulated path to offer crypto custody and related services to institutional clients.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary continues to highlight Morgan Stanley as a strong growth name, with Zacks pointing to the stock’s favorable growth profile and earnings-surprise history.
• Positive Sentiment: Another market note said Morgan Stanley paired its recent dividend increase with a $20 billion buyback, reinforcing capital-return strength and shareholder-friendly policies.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles compared Morgan Stanley with JPMorgan and other big banks, but these were mostly valuation/style discussions rather than direct new fundamental catalysts.
• Neutral Sentiment: One analyst note mentioned Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on EQT Corp., which is unrelated to MS’s own operations and is unlikely to be a major driver for Morgan Stanley shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MS. Barclays raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Dbs Bank raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. HSBC lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Citizens Jmp reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Argus raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.50.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total value of $2,120,758.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762 in the last 90 days. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS stock opened at $214.27 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $205.33 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $185.67. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $135.26 and a twelve month high of $230.47. The firm has a market cap of $337.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.60 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 11.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.23%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase 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 purchase up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.