Surience Private Wealth LLC Makes New $3 Million Investment in Morgan Stanley $MS

Surience Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 14,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,001,000. Morgan Stanley accounts for about 2.6% of Surience Private Wealth LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 13th biggest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter valued at $8,854,000. KTF Investments LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $15,945,000. Arsenal Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $814,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 201.0% during the 1st quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,559 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,890,000 after buying an additional 11,726 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 132.1% during the 4th quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 28,655 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,087,000 after buying an additional 16,308 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $211.00 to $233.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $243.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, July 20th. Finally, Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, June 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $224.75.

Trending Headlines about Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan increased their holdings of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs during the second quarter and added exposure to Solana and XRP products. The activity reinforces Morgan Stanley’s expansion into digital-asset products, which could support future fee and client-asset growth. Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan load up on crypto ETFs
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is among five banks advising Carlyle-backed Quest Global on a potential India IPO of up to $1 billion. The mandate could generate advisory and underwriting fees while highlighting the firm’s international capital-markets franchise. Quest Global selects banks for India IPO
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group raised its earnings estimates for Morgan Stanley, providing a supportive analyst signal following the company’s strong recent quarterly results. Erste Group lifts Morgan Stanley earnings estimates
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley adopted a more constructive view of U.S. IT hardware, citing “chipflation” and faster enterprise spending. The research may benefit the firm’s advisory and trading activity, but it is not a direct change to Morgan Stanley’s earnings outlook. Morgan Stanley turns bullish on IT hardware
• Negative Sentiment: A critical report on Morgan Stanley’s direct-lending business raised concerns about recent results and credit-market risks. Although details were limited, the negative coverage may weigh on sentiment toward the firm’s private-credit operations. Morgan Stanley direct lending results

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.0%

MS opened at $217.31 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $141.03 and a fifty-two week high of $232.25. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $216.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $193.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $342.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.57, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.57. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm had revenue of $21.35 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st were paid a $1.15 dividend. 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has authorized a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often a sign that the company’s board 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.