Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Sold by Waverly Advisors LLC

Waverly Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 109,842 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,706 shares during the quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $22,961,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Crown Wealth Group LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.2% during the second quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $320,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 55.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC now owns 137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 35.7% in the second quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. now owns 194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the second quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 8,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,724,000 after acquiring an additional 52 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank OZK increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.0% during the second quarter. Bank OZK now owns 1,815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 53 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $216.31 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $215.96 and its 200-day moving average is $197.46. The company has a market cap of $341.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.49, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.21. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $148.35 and a 52-week high of $232.25.

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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.57. The company had revenue of $21.35 billion during 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 12.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan 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 purchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is reportedly near the top of the list for a leading role in a potential $2 trillion Anthropic IPO. Winning the lead-left mandate could generate substantial advisory and underwriting fees while reinforcing the firm’s position in technology investment banking. Morgan Stanley, Goldman near top roles on Anthropics IPO
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is among the banks managing Spain’s planned €4 billion, 20-year green-bond offering. The mandate provides a modest near-term fee opportunity and highlights the firm’s continued role in major global debt transactions. Spain mandates new 20-year green bond syndication
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley projects a multi-quarter growth upcycle for Indian equities and expects the Sensex to reach 89,000 by June 2027. A stronger Indian market could support advisory, underwriting and wealth-management activity, although the forecast has no immediate impact on earnings. India in multi-quarter growth upcycle
• Negative Sentiment: A Merrill Lynch team managing approximately $1.2 billion reportedly left Morgan Stanley, alongside advisors from Truist and Wells Fargo. The move could modestly pressure Morgan Stanley’s wealth-management assets and fee revenue, though the broader financial impact is not yet clear. Merrill Lynch poaches Morgan Stanley advisors
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts warn that capital-markets momentum is fading in the third quarter, creating the risk of uneven investment-banking results for large banks including Morgan Stanley. This raises near-term concerns for underwriting and advisory revenue after a strong recent period. Capital markets momentum fades

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MS shares. Barclays boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Zacks Research upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 24th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Oppenheimer cut Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley Profile

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services company that provides investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services. The company serves corporations, governments, financial institutions, individuals and institutional investors through a range of advisory, capital-raising, trading and investment-related activities.

Morgan Stanley’s Institutional Securities business offers investment banking services, including mergers and acquisitions advice, underwriting and capital markets services.