Leonteq Securities AG Sells 101,839 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Leonteq Securities AG lessened its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 91.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,919 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 101,839 shares during the quarter. Leonteq Securities AG’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,632,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Purpose Unlimited Inc. bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.2%

MS stock opened at $214.27 on Friday. 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 has a 1-year low of $135.26 and a 1-year high of $230.47. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $205.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $185.67. The company 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 (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The firm had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 11.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has initiated 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 purchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Dbs Bank raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Citigroup increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $194.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 23rd. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $210.50.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 transaction of $2,120,758.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 169,403 shares in the company, valued at $32,313,622.25. This trade represents a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total value of $9,744,068.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly 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. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

More Morgan Stanley News

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.

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.