QRG Capital Management Inc. Has $41.08 Million Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 15.3% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 249,612 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,089 shares during the period. QRG Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $41,079,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of MS. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 12.3% in the fourth quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the period. Powers Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the period. Fielder Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 4,216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $748,000 after purchasing an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Financial Services LTD. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 3,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $635,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.2%

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $214.27 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $337.96 billion, a PE ratio of 19.41, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.23. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $135.26 and a 12-month high of $230.47. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $205.33 and its 200 day moving average is $185.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 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 business had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.60 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 11.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share repurchase 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 purchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are typically a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total value of $2,120,758.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares in the company, valued at $32,313,622.25. This trade represents a 6.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total value of $2,779,935.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 in the last 90 days. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Stories Impacting 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.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MS. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $240.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, June 29th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Citigroup boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $194.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Bank of America increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $210.50.

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.