Greenspring Advisors LLC Buys Shares of 2,320 Morgan Stanley $MS

Greenspring Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 2,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $412,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,253,554,000 after buying an additional 1,361,940 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 27,321,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,343,523,000 after buying an additional 167,487 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,070,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,786,350,000 after buying an additional 534,708 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,018,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,441,505,000 after buying an additional 524,189 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $2,736,648,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 3.9%

NYSE:MS opened at $218.38 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $344.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $127.34 and a twelve month high of $219.16. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $187.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $178.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 36.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider owned 169,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total value of $9,744,068.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at $53,209,159.78. This trade represents a 15.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 in the last 90 days. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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, a high-profile mandate that could add meaningful investment-banking fees and highlights the firm’s strength in AI-related capital markets work. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Land Anthropic IPO
• Positive Sentiment: News that Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is preparing to open parts of its stock-administration platform to external AI agents suggests the company is leaning into automation and could improve efficiency and client service in a large, recurring-fee business. Morgan Stanley will soon open its trillion-dollar wealth management funnel to AI agents
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent Morgan Stanley research calls on unrelated stocks remained constructive on AI, consumer, and industrial themes, helping reinforce the firm’s reputation as a leading market strategist and advisor. Nvidia Stock Forecast — Top Morgan Stanley Analyst Sees 34% Upside, Calls It a Top Pick
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley also appeared in other market-moving coverage around rates, FX, and financials, but those pieces were more about the firm’s views than about a direct earnings or guidance change for MS. Morgan Stanley Sees Fed Discounting War in Considering Any Hike

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on MS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $171.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Barclays upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Bank of America upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.