Empowered Funds LLC Buys 47,258 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 23.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 252,788 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 47,258 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $41,601,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,607,000 after buying an additional 1,185 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 69.0% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 8,964 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,263,000 after acquiring an additional 3,661 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 90.9% in the 2nd quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,378,000 after acquiring an additional 7,688 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 6.3% in the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 263,575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,127,000 after acquiring an additional 15,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 7.8% in the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Wealth Management LLC now owns 52,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,805,000 after acquiring an additional 3,807 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Infrastructure expansion: Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners agreed to acquire Epic Energy, potentially expanding the firm’s exposure to infrastructure investing and strengthening its alternative-asset platform. Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners to acquire Epic Energy
• Positive Sentiment: Strong positioning in AI and markets: Morgan Stanley strategists said companies adopting artificial intelligence could benefit from stronger profit margins, while the firm continues to favor high-quality megacap stocks. This reinforces Morgan Stanley’s role as a prominent adviser and source of market strategy during the AI-driven investment cycle. Morgan Stanley’s Wilson Says AI Adoption Key to Profit Outlook
• Positive Sentiment: Constructive analyst visibility: Morgan Stanley remains bullish on Seagate and Western Digital, companies benefiting from AI-related storage demand. Continued high-profile research calls may support the firm’s equity-research franchise and trading activity. Seagate, Western Digital Slide Again. Morgan Stanley Still Pounding the Table
• Positive Sentiment: Momentum and ETF fee advantage: Morgan Stanley was described as a top long-term momentum stock by Zacks, and its Bitcoin ETF reportedly charges a lower sponsor fee than BlackRock’s comparable product. These developments could help sentiment toward its wealth-management and asset-management businesses. Why Morgan Stanley Is a Top Momentum Stock for the Long-Term
• Neutral Sentiment: Talent departure: OpenAI hired former Morgan Stanley managing director Alisha Lehr for a private-equity-focused role. The move highlights demand for Morgan Stanley talent but represents a modest loss of experienced personnel. OpenAI’s Private Equity Ambitions Grow With Morgan Stanley Executive Hire
• Neutral Sentiment: Market concentration risk: Morgan Stanley warned that investors heavily concentrated in a small group of mega-cap technology stocks may face a shift in market leadership. The outlook could influence client positioning and trading volumes, but does not directly change Morgan Stanley’s fundamentals. Morgan Stanley Sees Shift Coming for Big Tech Investors

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Zacks Research lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, April 16th. HSBC lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 21st. Finally, Wolfe Research decreased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.50.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.0%

NYSE:MS opened at $214.41 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $136.17 and a 12 month high of $232.25. The company has a market cap of $338.18 billion, a PE ratio of 17.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $214.36 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $190.18.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.57. The business had revenue of $21.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.51%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.13 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 12.68 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 32.34%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

About Morgan Stanley

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.