Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Purchases 8,596 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 280,037 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,596 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $58,539,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MS. Cahill Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at approximately $272,000. Archford Capital Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth about $216,000. National Pension Service raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,960,629 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $618,890,000 after acquiring an additional 8,212 shares during the last quarter. BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth about $2,304,000. Finally, Teamwork Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth approximately $207,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Jim Cramer highlighted Morgan Stanley as a “quiet execution winner” over newer fintech and blockchain companies, providing favorable retail-investor visibility. Jim Cramer backs Morgan Stanley
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s most recent reported quarter showed strong operating momentum: earnings per share of $3.46 beat estimates of $2.89, while revenue of $21.35 billion exceeded the $19.67 billion consensus and increased 27.1% year over year.
• Neutral Sentiment: An opinion article argued that Morgan Stanley may be expensive after its rally, potentially encouraging profit-taking even though the business has delivered strong results. Morgan Stanley valuation commentary
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley strategist Mike Wilson warned that oil prices above $100 per barrel and elevated interest rates are among the main near-term risks for stocks. Higher rates can pressure financial-sector valuations and raise concerns about economic growth and capital-markets activity. Morgan Stanley warns on oil and rates
• Negative Sentiment: Merrill Lynch recruited an advisory team from Morgan Stanley as part of a broader $1.8 billion advisor move. While unlikely to materially affect near-term earnings, the departure adds a modest competitive and wealth-management retention overhang. Merrill recruits Morgan Stanley advisors

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MS shares. Oppenheimer cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Freedom Capital raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $243.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, July 20th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE:MS opened at $215.45 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $216.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $197.75. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $151.42 and a one year high of $232.25. The firm has a market cap of $339.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.42, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.21. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.57. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 15.65%.The company had revenue of $21.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 12.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st were given a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback 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 repurchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services company that provides investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services. The company serves corporations, governments, financial institutions, individuals and institutional investors through a range of advisory, capital-raising, trading and investment-related activities.

Morgan Stanley’s Institutional Securities business offers investment banking services, including mergers and acquisitions advice, underwriting and capital markets services.