Heartland Bank & Trust Co Makes New $1.84 Million Investment in Morgan Stanley $MS

Heartland Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 8,793 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,838,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of MS. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth approximately $8,854,000. KTF Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $15,945,000. Arsenal Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $814,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 201.0% during the first quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,559 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,890,000 after acquiring an additional 11,726 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 71,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,724,000 after acquiring an additional 11,588 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its gold outlook, arguing that gold’s recent breakout could extend higher and forecasting prices above $5,000 per ounce by 2027. A stronger commodities outlook could benefit the firm’s trading, wealth-management and investment-banking businesses. Morgan Stanley Doubles Down on Gold After Breakout
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley reportedly selected Dallas for a major expansion outside New York City. The move could improve long-term operating flexibility, expand access to talent and support growth in a lower-cost financial center. Morgan Stanley said to pick Dallas for expansion outside NYC
• Positive Sentiment: The firm continues to position itself in emerging investment products, including an Ethereum exchange-traded product that offers staking yield. This may broaden fee-generating opportunities and strengthen Morgan Stanley’s digital-asset platform.
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s research highlighted a projected 38-gigawatt power shortfall for AI data centers, identifying potential opportunities in industrial, energy and infrastructure financing. The report may support future advisory and capital-markets activity, but it does not represent a direct earnings catalyst. Morgan Stanley Says AI Data Centers Face a 38-Gigawatt Power Gap
• Negative Sentiment: The Ethereum product also exposes investors to staking-related risks, including slashing penalties, provider risk and withdrawal delays. These concerns could limit adoption or increase reputational and operational risk. Morgan Stanley Put Ethereum Yield in an ETP. Who Carries the Risk?
• Negative Sentiment: Scotiabank hired Morgan Stanley’s top Canadian banker, a competitive setback that could affect Morgan Stanley’s Canadian investment-banking and precious-metals operations. Scotiabank hires Morgan Stanley’s top Canada banker Richard Tory

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $211.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. HSBC lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, CICC Research increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Two investment 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $214.42 on Friday. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $217.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $194.12. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $144.67 and a 12 month high of $232.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $338.20 billion, a PE ratio of 17.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.31%. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.13 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback 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 reacquire up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

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.