CI Investments Inc. Has $2.31 Million Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

CI Investments Inc. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 32.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 14,059 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,416 shares during the quarter. CI Investments Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,314,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 29,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,281,000 after buying an additional 8,512 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 679.8% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 42,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,527,000 after purchasing an additional 36,963 shares during the period. BOCHK Asset Management Ltd bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $1,260,000. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 646,571 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $116,102,000 after buying an additional 65,246 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at about $8,854,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have weighed in on MS. Citigroup lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $211.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Argus increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.50.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s recent earnings results were strong, with the firm beating estimates on both EPS and revenue and posting robust year-over-year growth, which supports the stock’s longer-term fundamental case.
• Positive Sentiment: The company continues to receive constructive Wall Street commentary, including a “Moderate Buy” consensus and recent bullish analyst coverage tied to its earnings power and capital markets franchise.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent headlines also pointed to Morgan Stanley’s wealth management unit attracting new assets tied to SpaceX IPO interest, which reinforces the strength of its wealth and investment management businesses.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several unrelated market stories involving Morgan Stanley analyst calls on other stocks, plus broader AI/capex and earnings-driven volatility across large-cap tech and financials, may be influencing sentiment around MS indirectly.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of MS stock opened at $214.11 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $136.17 and a twelve month high of $232.25. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $213.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $189.97. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $337.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $21.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.51% and a net margin of 15.65%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 12.68 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 31st. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. This is a boost 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 has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

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.