Foster & Motley Inc. Buys Shares of 9,116 Morgan Stanley $MS

Foster & Motley Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 9,116 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,906,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Cypress Asset Management Inc. TX acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $217,000. Paladin Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth approximately $60,000. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at $4,634,000. Trust Co. of Vermont purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth $2,693,000. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth $78,825,883,310,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts give Morgan Stanley an average “Moderate Buy” recommendation, supporting the view that the stock’s long-term earnings and capital-return outlook remains favorable. Morgan Stanley Receives Average Recommendation of Moderate Buy from Analysts
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is helping lead financing for a potential Anthropic IPO and related credit facility. A successful, large technology offering could generate investment-banking fees and reinforce the firm’s position in high-growth AI financing, although the revenue impact is not yet certain. General Atlantic Reignites IPO Plans With JPMorgan, Goldman and Morgan Stanley
• Positive Sentiment: The firm continues to favor quality companies, AI adopters and financials as earnings growth broadens. This positioning could benefit Morgan Stanley’s equity-research, advisory and wealth-management franchises if investor risk appetite remains firm. Morgan Stanley Favours Quality, AI Adopters and Financials as Earnings Growth Broadens
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley declared dividends on several preferred-stock series. The payments demonstrate continued servicing of preferred capital, but they do not directly change the common stock’s earnings outlook or dividend. Morgan Stanley Preferred Stock Dividend Declaration
• Negative Sentiment: Broader technology-market pressure, including sharp declines in semiconductor shares, weighed on major indexes. Morgan Stanley’s exposure to equity-market activity and investor sentiment means this risk-off backdrop may be contributing to near-term weakness despite favorable company-specific coverage.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of MS opened at $217.50 on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $141.03 and a 12 month high of $232.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $217.11 and its two-hundred day moving average is $193.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The stock has a market cap of $343.06 billion, a PE ratio of 17.58, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its 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 return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 15.65%.The business had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. 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 presently 37.19%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. HSBC lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Oppenheimer cut Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Zacks Research downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. 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’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley 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.