Quantinno Capital Management LP Increases Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 36.9% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 917,669 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 247,186 shares during the quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $151,021,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185 shares in the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 3,661 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC lifted 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 in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position 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 worth $37,127,000 after buying an additional 15,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 7.8% during 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 during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is 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: Infrastructure expansion: Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners agreed to acquire Epic Energy, potentially expanding the firm’s exposure to infrastructure investing and strengthening its alternative-asset platform. Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners to acquire Epic Energy
• Positive Sentiment: Strong positioning in AI and markets: Morgan Stanley strategists said companies adopting artificial intelligence could benefit from stronger profit margins, while the firm continues to favor high-quality megacap stocks. This reinforces Morgan Stanley’s role as a prominent adviser and source of market strategy during the AI-driven investment cycle. Morgan Stanley’s Wilson Says AI Adoption Key to Profit Outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Constructive analyst visibility: Morgan Stanley remains bullish on Seagate and Western Digital, companies benefiting from AI-related storage demand. Continued high-profile research calls may support the firm’s equity-research franchise and trading activity. Seagate, Western Digital Slide Again. Morgan Stanley Still Pounding the Table
• Positive Sentiment: Momentum and ETF fee advantage: Morgan Stanley was described as a top long-term momentum stock by Zacks, and its Bitcoin ETF reportedly charges a lower sponsor fee than BlackRock’s comparable product. These developments could help sentiment toward its wealth-management and asset-management businesses. Why Morgan Stanley Is a Top Momentum Stock for the Long-Term
• Neutral Sentiment: Talent departure: OpenAI hired former Morgan Stanley managing director Alisha Lehr for a private-equity-focused role. The move highlights demand for Morgan Stanley talent but represents a modest loss of experienced personnel. OpenAI’s Private Equity Ambitions Grow With Morgan Stanley Executive Hire
• Neutral Sentiment: Market concentration risk: Morgan Stanley warned that investors heavily concentrated in a small group of mega-cap technology stocks may face a shift in market leadership. The outlook could influence client positioning and trading volumes, but does not directly change Morgan Stanley’s fundamentals. Morgan Stanley Sees Shift Coming for Big Tech Investors

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $214.41 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $136.17 and a 12-month 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 firm has a 50-day moving average price of $214.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $190.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $338.18 billion, a PE ratio of 17.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.23.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.57. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.51%. The company had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.68 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 32.34%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback 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 typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. Daiwa Securities Group upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $214.00 to $255.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. 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 issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.50.

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.