Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Acquired by Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.

Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 39.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 18,781 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,325 shares during the quarter. Penobscot Investment Management Company Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,926,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Vest Financial LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 27,389 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,725,000 after purchasing an additional 438 shares during the last quarter. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 317.4% during the second quarter. Provenance Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,849 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $387,000 after buying an additional 1,406 shares during the last quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.3% during the second quarter. Nilsine Partners LLC now owns 13,538 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,830,000 after buying an additional 173 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 29.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Capital Wealth Advisors now owns 15,886 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,321,000 after buying an additional 3,625 shares during the period. Finally, Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 169.1% during the second quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,358 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $702,000 after buying an additional 2,110 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on MS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Citigroup boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan increased their holdings of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs during the second quarter and added exposure to Solana and XRP products. The activity reinforces Morgan Stanley’s expansion into digital-asset products, which could support future fee and client-asset growth. Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan load up on crypto ETFs
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is among five banks advising Carlyle-backed Quest Global on a potential India IPO of up to $1 billion. The mandate could generate advisory and underwriting fees while highlighting the firm’s international capital-markets franchise. Quest Global selects banks for India IPO
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group raised its earnings estimates for Morgan Stanley, providing a supportive analyst signal following the company’s strong recent quarterly results. Erste Group lifts Morgan Stanley earnings estimates
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley adopted a more constructive view of U.S. IT hardware, citing “chipflation” and faster enterprise spending. The research may benefit the firm’s advisory and trading activity, but it is not a direct change to Morgan Stanley’s earnings outlook. Morgan Stanley turns bullish on IT hardware
• Negative Sentiment: A critical report on Morgan Stanley’s direct-lending business raised concerns about recent results and credit-market risks. Although details were limited, the negative coverage may weigh on sentiment toward the firm’s private-credit operations. Morgan Stanley direct lending results

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $217.31 on Monday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $216.84 and a 200-day simple moving average of $193.08. The firm has a market cap of $342.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.22. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $141.03 and a fifty-two week high of $232.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.57. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.67 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st were issued a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 31st. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 37.19%.

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

About Morgan Stanley

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.