First Trust Advisors LP Sells 27,642 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

First Trust Advisors LP lessened its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 538,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 27,642 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $88,557,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Danica Pension Livsforsikringsaktieselskab purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at about $14,411,000. Oslo Pensjonsforsikring AS acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter worth approximately $910,000. Andra AP fonden grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 783.9% during the 1st quarter. Andra AP fonden now owns 173,220 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $28,507,000 after purchasing an additional 153,623 shares during the last quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 65.4% during the 1st quarter. Wilkerson Advisory Group LLC now owns 210 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MWA Asset Management purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the first quarter worth $39,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Trending Headlines about 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MS. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $211.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. HSBC lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Daiwa Securities Group increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, CICC Research increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.50.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE MS opened at $214.11 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $337.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.31, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $213.93 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $189.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $136.17 and a fifty-two week high of $232.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $21.35 billion for 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 company’s revenue was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are generally an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders 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 currently 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.