Morgan Stanley $MS Position Reduced by Aristotle Capital Management LLC

Aristotle Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 2.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 646,691 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 16,796 shares during the quarter. Aristotle Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $106,426,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MS. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Purpose Unlimited Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $211.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, July 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $187.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Barclays increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Two 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.50.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of MS stock opened at $214.11 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $136.17 and a 1 year high of $232.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $337.71 billion, a PE ratio of 17.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.23. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $213.93 and a two-hundred day moving average of $189.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is 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 32.34%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock buyback program 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 shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s recent earnings results were strong, with the firm beating estimates on both EPS and revenue and posting robust year-over-year growth, which supports the stock’s longer-term fundamental case.
• Positive Sentiment: The company continues to receive constructive Wall Street commentary, including a “Moderate Buy” consensus and recent bullish analyst coverage tied to its earnings power and capital markets franchise.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent headlines also pointed to Morgan Stanley’s wealth management unit attracting new assets tied to SpaceX IPO interest, which reinforces the strength of its wealth and investment management businesses.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several unrelated market stories involving Morgan Stanley analyst calls on other stocks, plus broader AI/capex and earnings-driven volatility across large-cap tech and financials, may be influencing sentiment around MS indirectly.

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.