Morgan Stanley $MS Holdings Lifted by World Investment Advisors

World Investment Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 34.9% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 28,138 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,272 shares during the quarter. World Investment Advisors’ holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,995,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 29,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,281,000 after purchasing an additional 8,512 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 103.1% in the third quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 12,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,019,000 after purchasing an additional 6,448 shares in the last quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 52.6% in the third quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 113,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,043,000 after purchasing an additional 39,104 shares in the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 157,575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,048,000 after acquiring an additional 5,876 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ABN AMRO Bank N.V. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 569.5% during the 3rd quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. now owns 296,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,484,000 after acquiring an additional 252,435 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley was selected, along with Goldman Sachs, to lead Anthropic’s IPO, which could add a high-profile underwriting win if the deal launches later this year. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Land Anthropic IPO
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s wealth-management arm is expanding its tech offering by allowing external AI agents to connect to stock administration platforms, which may support efficiency and client growth over time. Morgan Stanley will soon open its trillion-dollar wealth management funnel to AI agents
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley also participated in a $33 million growth financing for Subtle Medical through its Expansion Capital unit, reinforcing ongoing private-market investing activity. Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital Leads $33 Million Growth Financing For Subtle Medical
• Neutral Sentiment: The firm also showed up in market commentary on FX and equities, but these notes were macro-focused rather than direct earnings or guidance news for MS. Warsh’s Fed Debut Is a Key Risk for FX, Morgan Stanley Says
• Negative Sentiment: Shares are also being weighed by a recent market update showing MS closed lower in the latest session, reinforcing the downtrend investors are seeing today. Morgan Stanley (MS) Sees a More Significant Dip Than Broader Market: Some Facts to Know

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total transaction of $2,120,758.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares in the company, valued at $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total value of $2,779,935.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 365,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,224,370.48. This trade represents a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762 in the last three months. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 2.0%

Shares of MS opened at $210.63 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $127.34 and a 1-year high of $217.03. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $186.82 and its 200 day moving average price is $178.43. The stock has a market capitalization of $332.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.08, a P/E/G ratio of 1.61 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The company had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.60 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 36.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. CICC Research upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. Barclays upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Zacks Research downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.95.

Morgan Stanley 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.