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MicroStrategy's stock price outperforms Bitcoin! Morgan Stanley becomes the second largest shareholder, increasing its stake to 10%.

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MicroStrategy

MicroStrategy's stock performance unexpectedly outperforms Bitcoin! Morgan Stanley (MS) made a significant purchase of MicroStrategy stock, becoming the second-largest shareholder after BlackRock Investment Management.

Morgan Stanley Becomes Major Shareholder of MicroStrategy

According to documents filed by Morgan Stanley with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on January 8th, the investment bank has purchased 792,627 shares of MicroStrategy, representing a 10.9% stake in the company. Following this acquisition, Morgan Stanley's stake will increase significantly from 1.97% to become the second largest shareholder after BlackRock Investment Management.

Source: yahoo finance

In August 2020, the Nasdaq-listed company took a bold move to address macroeconomic turbulence by adopting "Bitcoin" as its primary reserve asset. At that time, MicroStrategy CEO Michael Saylor commented on the company's decision:

"This is not speculation, nor is it hedging. Adopting the Bitcoin standard is an intentional corporate strategy."

This decision has brought lucrative returns and market attention to the company. Currently, MicroStrategy holds a total of 70,470 bitcoins, meaning that Morgan Stanley indirectly holds 7,047 bitcoins.

Impressive Performance of MicroStrategy Stock

However, the large bet on Bitcoin has also attracted skepticism from others in traditional finance. According to previous reports, Citigroup analysts downgraded the company's stock (MSTR) to "sell" after MicroStrategy announced that it would sell $400 million of 2025 convertible senior notes to qualified institutional buyers to purchase more Bitcoin. The analyst admitted that MicroStrategy's investment return on Bitcoin is impressive; however, CEO Michael Saylor's "excessive focus" on Bitcoin poses significant risks to investors.

Nevertheless, the price of MicroStrategy's stock has not stopped rising. What many people may not know is that since the announcement of acquiring Bitcoin in August 2020, MicroStrategy's stock performance has been even more outstanding than Bitcoin itself.

On the other hand, prominent U.S. short-selling firm Citron Research issued a long-term buy recommendation for MSTR in November 2020, setting a target price of $700 (at the time the price was only $250), stating:

"There is no better way to trade Bitcoin in the stock market."

The current stock price is only $170 away from the research firm's target price.