674,111 Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS Purchased by Renaissance Technologies LLC

Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 674,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $110,938,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Powers Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.0% during the fourth quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 4,216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $748,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the period. Balboa Wealth Partners lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 3,181 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $565,000 after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the period. Finally, Kennebec Savings Bank boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Kennebec Savings Bank now owns 3,915 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $695,000 after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of MS stock opened at $214.11 on Friday. 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 $337.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 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 $213.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $189.97.

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%.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on MS. CICC Research lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Zacks Research downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. HSBC boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $211.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.50.

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.