Sei Investments Co. Increases Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

Sei Investments Co. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 89.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,410,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 666,754 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co. owned 0.09% of Morgan Stanley worth $232,092,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of MS stock opened at $218.66 on Thursday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $344.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.23. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $136.17 and a 12-month high of $232.25. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $213.08 and its 200-day moving average price is $189.56.

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

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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 issued a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 32.34%.

Trending Headlines about Morgan Stanley

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 Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Freedom Capital raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, July 6th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, July 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $211.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Two equities research 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. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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.