NEOS Investment Management LLC Raises Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

NEOS Investment Management LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 12.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 194,970 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,350 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $40,757,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $78,825,883,310. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $2,736,648,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth approximately $2,040,227,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 29.1% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,917,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,648,354,000 after acquiring an additional 3,364,080 shares during the period. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 142.4% during the fourth quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,122,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $511,723,000 after purchasing an additional 1,833,844 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS opened at $217.30 on Friday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $215.61 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $196.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a market cap of $342.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.57, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 1.21. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $146.29 and a 1-year high of $232.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.13 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Investors are favoring major banks on the view that higher rates could support net interest income and financial-sector earnings. Morgan Stanley’s strong recent results— including a quarterly EPS beat, 27.1% year-over-year revenue growth and 19.3% return on equity—provide additional fundamental support. Expectations of Rising Rates and Worries About AI Have Investors Piling Into Big Bank Stocks
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s research franchise remains active, including a bullish view on Robinhood, Galaxy Digital and selected AI-related companies. Such calls may reinforce the firm’s market visibility and support expectations for continued trading, advisory and wealth-management activity. Robinhood Markets Stock Opinions on Analyst Upgrades and Blockchain Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley will host its Laguna and Global Healthcare conferences, featuring companies including Southwest Airlines, Eaton, Attovia, EyePoint and Zoetis. The events support client engagement and deal flow but do not represent a direct change to MS’s financial outlook.
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent filings show Morgan Stanley increased its institutional position in Cipher Digital and Amwell while reducing its stake in CXM and EyePoint. These portfolio changes are not material catalysts for Morgan Stanley’s stock and may reflect client or investment-management activity.
• Negative Sentiment: Higher-rate expectations can also weigh on bond valuations and raise funding costs, while continued technology-sector volatility could hurt market sentiment and reduce risk-taking across parts of Morgan Stanley’s trading and investment-banking businesses. Morgan Stanley Says U.S. Debt Fears Miss Bigger Story

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Barclays increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.75.

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.