OLD Second National Bank of Aurora Sells 3,177 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

OLD Second National Bank of Aurora lessened its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.7% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 52,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,177 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley comprises approximately 2.1% of OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings, making the stock its 13th largest holding. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $10,948,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Purpose Unlimited Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 143.4% during the second quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Finally, Hughes Financial Services LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 55.7% in the second quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC now owns 137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 49 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on MS. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted 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. Two equities research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $224.75.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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 0.5%

MS opened at $217.31 on Friday. 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 has a 52 week low of $141.03 and a 52 week high of $232.25. The stock has a market cap of $342.76 billion, a PE ratio of 17.57, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a 50 day moving average of $216.84 and a 200-day moving average of $193.00.

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

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback 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 repurchase up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 31st. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.19%.

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.