As M&A Activity Picks Up, We're Adding to Morgan Stanley and Bank of America
Over the last few weeks, we've seen activity in the IPO market pick up as well, and that is boosting confidence for a better 2024 compared to 2022 and 2023.
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| Symbol | Action | # Shares Traded | Recent Price | % of Portfolio* | Shares Owned* |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
BUY | 360 | $33.15 | 3.3% | 4000 | |
BUY | 235 | $84.15 | 3.3% | 1575 |
* The M&A market is getting warmer alongside the IPO market.
* We are adding to our Morgan Stanley and Bank of America holdings.
After you receive this Alert, we will make the following trades:
-- Buy 360 shares of Bank of America at or near $33.15. Following the trade, the portfolio will own 4,000 shares, accounting for roughly 3.3% of the portfolio.
-- Buy 235 shares of Morgan Stanley at or near $84.15. Following the trade, the portfolio will own 1,575 MS shares, making up about 3.3% of the portfolio.
Over the last few weeks, we've seen activity in the IPO market pick up and that is boosting confidence for a better 2024 compared to 2022 and 2023. It would mean the robust backlog of companies looking to tap the public markets would drive investment banking dollars to companies like Action Alerts PLUS portfolio companies Morgan Stanley MS and Bank of America BAC .
We are also starting to see the M&A market perk up as well, another driver of investment banking fees. These are items we've been watching closely as it relates to MS and BAC shares, and the improving outlook and what it means for their businesses has us adding to our holdings.
In January, the following big M&A deals were announced:
* Synopsys SNPS buying ANSYS ANSS for $32.68 billion
* BlackRock BLK acquiring Global Infrastructure Management in a $12.51 billion transaction
* Chesapeake Energy CHK picking up Southwestern Energy SWN in a deal worth $11.66 billion
* Hewlett Packard Enterprises HPE scooped up Juniper Networks JNPR in a deal valued at $13.98 billion.
Those are some of the larger transactions and others have been announced in recent weeks. More recently we read Coca-Cola KO is contemplating buying healthy soda brand Poppi whose distribution includes to Target TGT , CostcoCOST , Kroger KR , and Amazon's AMZN Whole Foods.
Other reports suggest Walmart WMT is in talks to buy smart television company Vizio VZIO for more than $2 billion. Typically when we see moves like these competitors respond, fostering additional M&A activity.
(Please note that we are looking to execute these trades at or near the share price mentioned above. Once the trade is completed, subscribers can see the trade's executed pricehere. Be sure to toggle the chart to sort by Purchase Date.)
Action Alerts PLUS is long MS, BAC, COST, AMZN.