NBH Bank Invests $1.48 Million in Morgan Stanley $MS

NBH Bank acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 7,077 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,479,000.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth about $78,825,883,310. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at about $2,736,648,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,040,227,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,917,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,648,354,000 after purchasing an additional 3,364,080 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Corient Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 142.4% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,122,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $511,723,000 after purchasing an additional 1,833,844 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS opened at $217.73 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $215.70 and its two-hundred day moving average is $196.68. The company has a market capitalization of $343.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.60, a P/E/G ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.21. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $146.29 and a fifty-two week high of $232.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

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

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has approved 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 buy up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are typically an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st were paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. 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. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Potentially major Anthropic IPO role: Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are reportedly close to receiving leading roles in Anthropic’s anticipated IPO, which could involve a valuation near $2 trillion. The deal would strengthen Morgan Stanley’s technology and equity-underwriting franchise and provide a potentially meaningful source of fees and future business. Anthropic is also reportedly arranging a $15 billion revolving credit facility, with Morgan Stanley leading the process. Anthropic close to awarding Morgan Stanley and Goldman top roles in $2tn IPO
• Positive Sentiment: Strong recent earnings backdrop: Morgan Stanley’s latest quarterly results significantly exceeded expectations, with revenue up 27.1% year over year and earnings per share of $3.46 versus a $2.89 consensus estimate. The performance supports investor confidence in the firm’s trading, investment-banking and wealth-management businesses.
• Neutral Sentiment: Ongoing conference and client activity: Morgan Stanley is hosting its 24th Annual Global Healthcare Conference, while companies including Tempus, Attovia Therapeutics, Eaton and Southwest Airlines are scheduled to present. These events reinforce the firm’s role in institutional research and client engagement but are unlikely to materially affect near-term financial results. Tempus to Participate in the Morgan Stanley 24th Annual Global Healthcare Conference
• Negative Sentiment: Copyright dispute with X: Morgan Stanley has filed complaints against at least 16 X posts that allegedly shared copyrighted research and temporarily locked a prominent strategist’s account. The action may protect valuable intellectual property, but it also creates reputational and legal uncertainty and could disrupt the firm’s visibility on a major platform used by investors. Morgan Stanley Hands Elon Musk a New X Headache

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $243.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, July 20th. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $235.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. CICC Research raised 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. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently 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.