Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases 6,200 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Merit Financial Group LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 106,437 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,200 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $22,250,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,253,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,940 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 103,854,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,437,334,000 after buying an additional 539,544 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,070,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,786,350,000 after buying an additional 534,708 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,018,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,441,505,000 after buying an additional 524,189 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the 1st 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 buying an additional 87,533 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of MS stock opened at $218.59 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65. The firm has a market cap of $344.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.67, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a 50 day moving average of $216.74 and a 200-day moving average of $192.83. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $141.03 and a 12-month high of $232.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.13 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 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 issued a $1.15 dividend. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase program on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on MS shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $243.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, CICC Research lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Two investment 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 MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $224.75.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Higher earnings expectations provide support. Erste Group Bank raised its earnings estimates for Morgan Stanley, reinforcing the view that strong investment-banking, wealth-management and trading activity could continue to improve profitability. Erste Group Bank Lifts Earnings Estimates for Morgan Stanley
• Positive Sentiment: Digital-asset strategy is expanding. Morgan Stanley is broadening its cryptocurrency platform with Ethereum and Solana exchange-traded products, staking capabilities and additional digital-asset services. The initiative could create new fee revenue and strengthen the firm’s competitive position in wealth management, although financial benefits may take time to develop. How Is Morgan Stanley Strengthening Its Position in Digital Assets?
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst coverage highlights growth opportunities. Morgan Stanley research remains constructive on areas including Sea’s spending and SpaceX’s valuation potential. These reports may raise the firm’s visibility and research-related activity but have limited direct impact on Morgan Stanley’s earnings. Morgan Stanley Sees Sea’s Spending Building Earnings Power
• Negative Sentiment: Direct lending remains a concern. A recent analysis argues that Morgan Stanley’s direct-lending results show additional problems, potentially raising questions about credit quality, private-credit returns and the firm’s alternative-investments platform. This could temper enthusiasm around the broader earnings outlook. Morgan Stanley Direct Lending: New Results Just Showed More Problems

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.