Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Has $37.69 Million Stock Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 180,283 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,417 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $37,686,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $2,736,648,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 3,364,080 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 1,833,844 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,253,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,940 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2,332.9% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,406,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $249,710,000 after purchasing an additional 1,348,683 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.5%

Shares of MS stock opened at $217.31 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $141.03 and a 1 year high of $232.25. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $216.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $193.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $342.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.57, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st were given a $1.15 dividend. 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 of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MS. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Oppenheimer cut 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 Morgan Stanley from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $211.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.75.

About Morgan Stanley

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.