BlockBeats News, August 15th - Morgan Stanley downgraded its rating on Circle (CRCL) stock from "Hold" to "Underweight" on August 3rd, and significantly lowered the price target from $106 to $38. Analysts stated that the rating downgrade was mainly due to the contraction of USDC circulation, which exposed Circle's high sensitivity to reserve income.

At the same time, the company's business structure is shifting towards a lower-margin transaction revenue model. The report also lowered the estimates for Circle's USDC scale in 2027 and 2028 by approximately 33% and 44%, and expects the company's GAAP EPS to be about 3% and 20% below market consensus.

However, Morgan Stanley's latest 13F filing shows that as of June 30th, its holdings of Circle shares increased significantly from about 1.46 million shares to 8.32 million shares, indicating a significant increase in position during the second quarter.

This means that while Morgan Stanley publicly downgraded Circle's rating and price target in early August, sending a cautious signal, its disclosed holdings as of the end of the second quarter showed a substantial increase. It should be noted that the 13F disclosure is as of June 30th and does not reflect whether the position has been adjusted after the August rating downgrade. The market's focus is on the apparent disparity between institutional research views and historical holding disclosures.