Sarasin & Partners LLP Has $6.41 Million Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

Sarasin & Partners LLP lowered its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 36.8% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 30,673 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 17,822 shares during the quarter. Sarasin & Partners LLP’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $6,412,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MS. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 24.0% during the second quarter. 180 Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,768 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $370,000 after buying an additional 342 shares in the last quarter. Foster Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.3% in the second quarter. Foster Group Inc. now owns 3,103 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $649,000 after acquiring an additional 291 shares during the period. Balefire LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.0% in the second quarter. Balefire LLC now owns 2,063 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $431,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 9.4% during the second quarter. Dynamic Advisor Solutions LLC now owns 39,848 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $8,330,000 after acquiring an additional 3,416 shares during the period. Finally, Baron Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.8% during the second quarter. Baron Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,817 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,216,000 after acquiring an additional 102 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of MS stock opened at $213.99 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $140.60 and a fifty-two week high of $232.25. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $216.36 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $191.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company has a market cap of $337.52 billion, a PE ratio of 17.30, a P/E/G ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.22.

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

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has authorized a stock buyback plan on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding 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 generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have issued reports on MS shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Daiwa Securities Group boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Oppenheimer downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.75.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s possible billion-dollar regional hub in downtown Dallas received approval for a key planning element, supporting the firm’s long-term growth and talent-retention strategy in the region. Morgan Stanley’s possible downtown hub gets sign approval
• Positive Sentiment: Wealth management remains an important stabilizing factor for Morgan Stanley, providing recurring fee revenue and diversification from more market-sensitive investment-banking and trading operations. Why Is Wealth Management Anchoring Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst views remain mixed, suggesting investors may be reassessing Morgan Stanley’s valuation after its strong earnings performance. The company previously reported quarterly EPS of $3.46 and revenue of $21.35 billion, both above consensus estimates.
• Negative Sentiment: A Morgan Stanley-led banking group is reportedly preparing to sell roughly $15 billion of debt connected to a Google-backed Anthropic data center. The transaction could generate fees, but investors may be concerned about exposure to heavily leveraged AI infrastructure financing and the possibility that banks are transferring risk to the market. Morgan Stanley-led banks to offload debt tied to Anthropic data center

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.