Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Acquired by Arizona State Retirement System

Arizona State Retirement System increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 328,814 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,528 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $68,735,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $78,825,883,310. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 20,805.5% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 374,314,131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $78,246,626,000 after buying an additional 372,523,624 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 103,854,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,437,334,000 after buying an additional 539,544 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,070,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,786,350,000 after buying an additional 534,708 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,018,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,441,505,000 after buying an additional 524,189 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE MS traded down $1.41 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $216.31. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,454,304 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,229,787. 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’s 50-day moving average is $215.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $197.19. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $148.35 and a fifty-two week high of $232.25. The stock has a market cap of $341.18 billion, a PE ratio of 17.49, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.21.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced 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. 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.13 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.8 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback 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 repurchase up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

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 is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 31st. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 37.19%.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is reportedly among the leading candidates for a senior role on a potential Anthropic initial public offering. A transaction of that scale could generate meaningful advisory and underwriting fees, although the IPO remains prospective. Morgan Stanley, Goldman near top roles on Anthropic’s $2tn IPO
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s research team continues to highlight opportunities in artificial-intelligence adopters and selected Indian equities, signaling potentially favorable conditions for its equity-research, sales and trading, and investment-banking franchises. Morgan Stanley market leaders outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is hosting or participating in several upcoming corporate and healthcare conferences. These events may create opportunities for client engagement and deal flow, but the announcements do not immediately change the firm’s earnings outlook.
• Negative Sentiment: Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch recruited a Morgan Stanley advisor team overseeing approximately $1.2 billion, alongside advisors from Truist and Wells Fargo. The departure could pressure Morgan Stanley’s wealth-management assets, revenue, and retention metrics, although the direct earnings impact is uncertain. Merrill Lynch poaches Morgan Stanley team
• Negative Sentiment: Analysts warn that capital-markets momentum is fading in the third quarter, raising the risk of uneven results for large banks including Morgan Stanley. Slower deal activity, trading volumes, or issuance could weigh on near-term investment-banking and markets revenue. Capital markets momentum fades

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $243.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. 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. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 30th. Three investment 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 given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.75.

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.