Empirical Finance LLC Sells 9,916 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

by · The Cerbat Gem

Empirical Finance LLC reduced its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Free Report) by 14.4% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 58,732 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,916 shares during the quarter. Empirical Finance LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $12,277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Financiere des Professionnels Fonds d investissement inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 1st quarter worth about $8,854,000. Arsenal Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $814,000. Diversify Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 201.0% in the first quarter. Diversify Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,559 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,890,000 after buying an additional 11,726 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 19.3% during the fourth quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 71,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $12,724,000 after buying an additional 11,588 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Swiss Life Asset Management Ltd now owns 764,583 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $135,736,000 after buying an additional 20,783 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Morgan Stanley

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

  • Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is reportedly among the leading candidates for a senior role on a potential Anthropic initial public offering. A transaction of that scale could generate meaningful advisory and underwriting fees, although the IPO remains prospective. Morgan Stanley, Goldman near top roles on Anthropic’s $2tn IPO
  • Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s research team continues to highlight opportunities in artificial-intelligence adopters and selected Indian equities, signaling potentially favorable conditions for its equity-research, sales and trading, and investment-banking franchises. Morgan Stanley market leaders outlook
  • Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is hosting or participating in several upcoming corporate and healthcare conferences. These events may create opportunities for client engagement and deal flow, but the announcements do not immediately change the firm’s earnings outlook.
  • Negative Sentiment: Bank of America’s Merrill Lynch recruited a Morgan Stanley advisor team overseeing approximately $1.2 billion, alongside advisors from Truist and Wells Fargo. The departure could pressure Morgan Stanley’s wealth-management assets, revenue, and retention metrics, although the direct earnings impact is uncertain. Merrill Lynch poaches Morgan Stanley team
  • Negative Sentiment: Analysts warn that capital-markets momentum is fading in the third quarter, raising the risk of uneven results for large banks including Morgan Stanley. Slower deal activity, trading volumes, or issuance could weigh on near-term investment-banking and markets revenue. Capital markets momentum fades

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS traded down $1.41 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $216.31. 3,454,304 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,229,787. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $341.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.49, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 1.21. The business has a 50-day moving average of $215.81 and a 200 day moving average of $197.19. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $148.35 and a one year high of $232.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.57. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.31%. The firm had revenue of $21.35 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.67 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.13 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 12.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, July 31st were paid a $1.15 dividend. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, July 31st. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. HSBC lifted 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. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $243.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, July 20th. Oppenheimer downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Barclays boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, July 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $224.75.

Read Our Latest Stock Analysis on MS

Morgan Stanley Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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