Verdence Capital Advisors LLC Sells 4,311 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 26.3% in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 12,105 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,311 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $2,010,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 60,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $8,560,000 after purchasing an additional 1,468 shares during the last quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 9.3% in the 2nd quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 1,355 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $191,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC now owns 1,841 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $259,000 after buying an additional 97 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 44.0% in the 2nd quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 5,576 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $785,000 after buying an additional 1,705 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $182.03 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.33 and a 52 week high of $192.68. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $176.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $160.48. The company has a market capitalization of $289.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.87 and a beta of 1.20.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.69 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.09% and a return on equity of 16.92%. The firm’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.22 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.18%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total transaction of $16,434,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 574,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $94,493,199.24. This represents a 14.82% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Dbs Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Zacks Research raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. HSBC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $202.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets began coverage on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $180.00 price objective on the stock. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $185.93.

Trending Headlines about Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s public profile remains strong — Jim Cramer praised MS’s CEO and recent commentary highlights the firm’s momentum and leadership, which supports confidence in management and long-term strategy. Morgan Stanley (MS)’s CEO is Doing a Great Job, Says Jim Cramer
• Positive Sentiment: MS is active in principal/private investments — the firm backed Tenaya Therapeutics, a move that highlights deal flow and potential upside from private / VC-style investments on the firm’s balance sheet. That can boost future revenue diversity. Morgan Stanley Backs Tenaya Therapeutics (TNYA) as SMID-Cap Biotech Primed to Outperform in 2026
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s real‑asset investing arm bought a $110M Bay Area factory — expands its industrial/real‑asset portfolio but is not an immediate earnings driver for the bank’s core wealth & capital markets businesses. Morgan Stanley Snaps Up $110 Million Bay Area Factory
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst activity and coverage moves from Morgan Stanley (upgrades, initiations across tech, biotech and space names) underline the firm’s research footprint — supportive for IB and trading franchise over time but not an immediate capital markets catalyst. Morgan Stanley’s Top European Software and Services Stocks
• Negative Sentiment: Research tone turned cautious on parts of tech: Morgan Stanley flagged slowing demand in U.S. IT hardware, a move that contributed to selling in hardware names — this raises investor concern that institutional client spending and trading/underwriting activity could soften, which would pressure MS revenue. US IT hardware stocks tumble as Morgan Stanley flags slowing demand
• Negative Sentiment: Broader tech weakness and ETF drag (QQQ down amid major tech declines) is reducing trading and market‑sensitive revenue across banks; MS is sensitive to market volatility and flows, so sector weakness can depress the stock even if fundamentals remain solid. QQQ is down 1.3% today, on SHOP stock price movement

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

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.