HB Wealth Management LLC Buys 29,842 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

HB Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 36.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 112,615 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 29,842 shares during the period. HB Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $18,533,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Purpose Unlimited Inc. bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MS shares. CICC Research boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, June 29th. Dbs Bank boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $194.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.50.

Trending Headlines about Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley won conditional OCC approval for a national digital asset trust bank, giving it a regulated path to offer crypto custody and related services to institutional clients.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary continues to highlight Morgan Stanley as a strong growth name, with Zacks pointing to the stock’s favorable growth profile and earnings-surprise history.
• Positive Sentiment: Another market note said Morgan Stanley paired its recent dividend increase with a $20 billion buyback, reinforcing capital-return strength and shareholder-friendly policies.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles compared Morgan Stanley with JPMorgan and other big banks, but these were mostly valuation/style discussions rather than direct new fundamental catalysts.
• Neutral Sentiment: One analyst note mentioned Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on EQT Corp., which is unrelated to MS’s own operations and is unlikely to be a major driver for Morgan Stanley shares.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $214.27 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $205.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $185.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $337.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.23. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $135.26 and a one year high of $230.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The company had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.60 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 11.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.23%.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total transaction of $2,779,935.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 365,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,224,370.48. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total value of $9,744,068.12. Following the transaction, the insider owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at $53,209,159.78. This trade represents a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

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.