22,168 Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS Bought by Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI

Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 22,168 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,634,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Purpose Unlimited Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 143.4% in the second quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 76 shares during the period. Atlatl Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth about $28,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s strategists said earnings growth is broadening beyond mega-cap technology, favoring quality companies, AI adopters, large-cap financials and consumer discretionary stocks. The outlook supports sentiment toward Morgan Stanley’s own wealth-management and capital-markets businesses. Morgan Stanley Favours Quality, AI Adopters and Financials as Earnings Growth Broadens
• Positive Sentiment: General Atlantic has revived plans for a potential IPO as soon as this year, with JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley involved. A renewed IPO market could increase Morgan Stanley’s underwriting, advisory and trading revenue opportunities. General Atlantic Reignites IPO Plans With JPMorgan, Goldman and Morgan Stanley
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley has reportedly increased exposure to Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana exchange-traded products, signaling a deeper push into digital-asset offerings. The move could broaden products and fee revenue, although it also introduces additional market and regulatory risk. Morgan Stanley’s Bigger Crypto ETF Bet Might Change The Case For Investing in Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley declared regular dividends on several preferred-stock series, payable in September and October. The payments reinforce the firm’s capital-return profile but do not directly change the outlook for common-stock earnings. Morgan Stanley preferred-stock dividend declarations
• Negative Sentiment: The firm also completed roughly $7.54 million of senior unsecured medium-term note offerings with fixed coupons of 4.650% to 5.200%. The issuance supports liquidity and funding flexibility, but adds interest expense and leverage exposure. Morgan Stanley’s Bigger Crypto ETF Bet Might Change The Case For Investing in Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $218.63 on Tuesday. 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 52-week low of $141.03 and a 52-week high of $232.25. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $216.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $193.33. The company has a market capitalization of $344.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.57. The business had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 15.65%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st were issued a $1.15 dividend. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 31st. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on MS shares. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Bank of America boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Erste Group Bank raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Citigroup raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.75.

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.