Curated Wealth Partners LLC Sells 114,986 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Curated Wealth Partners LLC lessened its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 97.5% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 2,942 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 114,986 shares during the period. Curated Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $553,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $78,825,883,310. Bank of America Corp DE lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 16,326,676 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,686,881,000 after purchasing an additional 87,533 shares during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.7% in the second quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 11,206,144 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,342,532,000 after purchasing an additional 188,296 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at approximately $2,040,227,000. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.9% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 7,235,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,190,585,000 after buying an additional 65,739 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Record wealth-management results, including approximately $9.1 billion in revenue, strong net new assets and $10.5 trillion in wealth assets, reinforced Morgan Stanley’s long-term growth strategy. Morgan Stanley Q3 profit hits $4.9bn on wealth gains and IPO inflows
• Positive Sentiment: Equities trading revenue surged 41% year over year, helping drive the earnings and revenue outperformance. Management also highlighted opportunities from AI financing and disciplined capital allocation. Morgan Stanley Q3 Earnings Call Highlights Wealth and AI Strategy
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley declared a quarterly dividend of $1.15 per share, equivalent to $4.60 annually and a stated yield of about 2.5%, providing ongoing shareholder support.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst sentiment remains mixed: JPMorgan raised its target to $198 while maintaining a Neutral rating, but Citigroup, TD Cowen and KBW lowered their targets to $190, $205 and $230, respectively. Morgan Stanley Analysts Cut Their Forecasts After Q3 Results
• Negative Sentiment: Investors appeared concerned that growth was concentrated in equities and trading, while profitability metrics and the business mix were less compelling. The strong beat therefore did not translate into higher valuation expectations. Morgan Stanley Beats on Earnings, But Shares Fall on Trading Mix

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $190.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 7th. Freedom Capital upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $214.86.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $180.73 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $285.07 billion, a PE ratio of 14.34, a P/E/G ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $204.40 and a 200-day moving average price of $203.48. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $152.80 and a fifty-two week high of $232.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.93 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $20.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.93 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 15.63%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 11.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.80 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.64 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be given a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 37.19%.

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm serving corporations, governments, financial institutions, individuals and other investors. The company provides investment banking and advisory services, including mergers and acquisitions advice, equity and debt underwriting, securities sales and trading, and corporate lending.

Through its Wealth Management business, Morgan Stanley offers financial planning, brokerage, investment advisory and banking services to individual investors, businesses and institutions.