UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC Purchases 188,296 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,206,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 188,296 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC owned about 0.71% of Morgan Stanley worth $2,342,532,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter worth $8,854,000. Arsenal Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $814,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 201.0% in the first quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,559 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,890,000 after acquiring an additional 11,726 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, California Public Employees Retirement System raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 13.4% during the first quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System now owns 2,422,284 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $398,635,000 after acquiring an additional 287,056 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MS. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Oppenheimer cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.75.

More Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Industry tailwinds support the outlook: Zacks identified Morgan Stanley among investment banks positioned to benefit from increased technology spending, active trading, and stronger underwriting and advisory activity. These trends could support revenue growth across wealth management and institutional securities. 3 Investment Bank Stocks Set to Benefit From Industry Tailwinds
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent earnings momentum remains a fundamental support: Morgan Stanley’s latest quarterly results showed adjusted earnings per share of $3.46, well above the $2.89 consensus estimate, while revenue rose 27.1% year over year to $21.35 billion. However, these results were released earlier and do not represent a fresh trading catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: Investment-banking activity remains visible: Morgan Stanley was listed among institutional buyers in recent Indian transactions involving Purple Style Labs and Lenskart. These deals may generate advisory or underwriting revenue, but the announcements do not appear material enough to directly affect MS shares. Purple Style Raises Funds Ahead of IPO

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $214.69 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $216.44 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $195.32. The stock has a market cap of $338.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.22. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $145.65 and a 52-week high of $232.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.57. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The company had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to buy up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.