Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Sold by Lido Advisors LLC

Lido Advisors LLC lessened its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 18.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 208,195 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 47,324 shares during the period. Lido Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $34,263,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 8.1% in the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 381,181 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $61,083,000 after acquiring an additional 28,518 shares during the last quarter. Levin Capital Strategies L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $519,000. Clearwater Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth $215,000. Wiregrass Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.2% during the first quarter. Wiregrass Investment Management LLC now owns 9,308 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,532,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares during the last quarter. Finally, First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 208.0% in the first quarter. First Citizens Bank & Trust Co. now owns 42,430 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $6,983,000 after purchasing an additional 28,656 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

More Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s economics team raised its AI spending outlook sharply, saying global AI capex could reach $1.4 trillion by 2028; that reinforces the firm’s relevance in one of the market’s strongest investment themes and may support sentiment toward MS. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Media coverage also highlighted Morgan Stanley’s strong first-half performance versus peers, with analysts pointing to the bank’s solid quarterly results as evidence that Wall Street momentum may continue across the sector. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Separately, Morgan Stanley was cited in several sector notes and target updates across other companies, including AI, software, telecom, and industrial names, which keeps the firm visible but does not directly change MS fundamentals today.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their target price 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. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Wolfe Research lowered their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.50.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $218.66 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $136.17 and a 1-year high of $232.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $213.08 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $189.56. The firm has a market capitalization of $344.89 billion, a PE ratio of 17.68, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.57. The company had revenue of $21.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.51%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 12.68 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be given a $1.15 dividend. 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 payout ratio is 32.34%.

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.