Rokos Capital Management LLP Has $38.95 Million Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Rokos Capital Management LLP decreased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 64.3% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 236,721 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 426,541 shares during the quarter. Rokos Capital Management LLP’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $38,954,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth $2,736,648,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in 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 valued at $2,648,354,000 after purchasing an additional 3,364,080 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 142.4% in 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 buying an additional 1,833,844 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,253,554,000 after buying an additional 1,361,940 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2,332.9% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,406,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $249,710,000 after buying an additional 1,348,683 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the subject of several analyst reports. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $240.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Argus lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.50.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Infrastructure expansion: Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners agreed to acquire Epic Energy, potentially expanding the firm’s exposure to infrastructure investing and strengthening its alternative-asset platform. Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners to acquire Epic Energy
• Positive Sentiment: Strong positioning in AI and markets: Morgan Stanley strategists said companies adopting artificial intelligence could benefit from stronger profit margins, while the firm continues to favor high-quality megacap stocks. This reinforces Morgan Stanley’s role as a prominent adviser and source of market strategy during the AI-driven investment cycle. Morgan Stanley’s Wilson Says AI Adoption Key to Profit Outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Constructive analyst visibility: Morgan Stanley remains bullish on Seagate and Western Digital, companies benefiting from AI-related storage demand. Continued high-profile research calls may support the firm’s equity-research franchise and trading activity. Seagate, Western Digital Slide Again. Morgan Stanley Still Pounding the Table
• Positive Sentiment: Momentum and ETF fee advantage: Morgan Stanley was described as a top long-term momentum stock by Zacks, and its Bitcoin ETF reportedly charges a lower sponsor fee than BlackRock’s comparable product. These developments could help sentiment toward its wealth-management and asset-management businesses. Why Morgan Stanley Is a Top Momentum Stock for the Long-Term
• Neutral Sentiment: Talent departure: OpenAI hired former Morgan Stanley managing director Alisha Lehr for a private-equity-focused role. The move highlights demand for Morgan Stanley talent but represents a modest loss of experienced personnel. OpenAI’s Private Equity Ambitions Grow With Morgan Stanley Executive Hire
• Neutral Sentiment: Market concentration risk: Morgan Stanley warned that investors heavily concentrated in a small group of mega-cap technology stocks may face a shift in market leadership. The outlook could influence client positioning and trading volumes, but does not directly change Morgan Stanley’s fundamentals. Morgan Stanley Sees Shift Coming for Big Tech Investors

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.0%

NYSE:MS opened at $214.41 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $136.17 and a fifty-two week high of $232.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $338.18 billion, a PE ratio of 17.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $214.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $190.18.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.57. The business had revenue of $21.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.51% and a net margin of 15.65%.Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 12.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be issued a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend 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 is Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are generally a sign that the company’s management 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.