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

Renaissance Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 674,111 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $110,938,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1,855.6% in the fourth quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on MS. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. UBS Group increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $214.00 to $255.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Argus lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Two 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, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.50.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS opened at $214.11 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $337.71 billion, a PE ratio of 17.31, a P/E/G ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $213.93 and a 200-day moving average price of $189.97. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $136.17 and a 1 year 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.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.57. The company had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.51%. Morgan Stanley’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 posted $2.13 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 12.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be given a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. This is an increase 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 announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase 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 repurchase up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.