Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Has $955,000 Stock Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. increased its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 150.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,747 shares during the period. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $955,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 29,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,281,000 after purchasing an additional 8,512 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 11.2% during the 4th quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 646,571 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $116,102,000 after purchasing an additional 65,246 shares during the period. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $8,854,000. KTF Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $15,945,000. Finally, Arsenal Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $814,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.5%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $217.31 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $141.03 and a 52-week high of $232.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $342.76 billion, a PE ratio of 17.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $216.84 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $193.00.

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

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

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

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback program on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to purchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of a number of research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $211.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, July 6th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $255.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 3rd. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, June 25th. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, HSBC increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $215.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.75.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan increased their holdings of Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs during the second quarter and added exposure to Solana and XRP products. The activity reinforces Morgan Stanley’s expansion into digital-asset products, which could support future fee and client-asset growth. Morgan Stanley and JPMorgan load up on crypto ETFs
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is among five banks advising Carlyle-backed Quest Global on a potential India IPO of up to $1 billion. The mandate could generate advisory and underwriting fees while highlighting the firm’s international capital-markets franchise. Quest Global selects banks for India IPO
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group raised its earnings estimates for Morgan Stanley, providing a supportive analyst signal following the company’s strong recent quarterly results. Erste Group lifts Morgan Stanley earnings estimates
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley adopted a more constructive view of U.S. IT hardware, citing “chipflation” and faster enterprise spending. The research may benefit the firm’s advisory and trading activity, but it is not a direct change to Morgan Stanley’s earnings outlook. Morgan Stanley turns bullish on IT hardware
• Negative Sentiment: A critical report on Morgan Stanley’s direct-lending business raised concerns about recent results and credit-market risks. Although details were limited, the negative coverage may weigh on sentiment toward the firm’s private-credit operations. Morgan Stanley direct lending results

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.