Signet Private Wealth LLC Makes New $797,000 Investment in Morgan Stanley $MS

Signet Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,488 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $797,000. Morgan Stanley makes up 0.8% of Signet Private Wealth LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 27th largest position.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MS. Myriad Asset Management Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $5,063,000. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 7.3% during the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation National Association UT now owns 10,566 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,876,000 after buying an additional 716 shares in the last quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 9.6% in the 4th quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund now owns 113,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $20,198,000 after buying an additional 9,971 shares during the last quarter. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at $217,000. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 315,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,060,000 after buying an additional 2,322 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total value of $2,120,758.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares in the company, valued at $32,313,622.25. This represents a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $196.00 to $214.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted 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. Argus boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $173.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.95.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $206.89 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $191.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.23. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $128.81 and a fifty-two week high of $219.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $326.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The business had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.60 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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

Trending Headlines about Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley continues to get constructive analyst attention, including recent pieces calling it a strong momentum name and a buy idea for investors. What Makes Morgan Stanley (MS) a Strong Momentum Stock: Buy Now?
• Positive Sentiment: The bank is being seen as a beneficiary of a potential AI IPO wave, with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley expected to earn underwriting, trading, and advisory fees from offerings such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX. Forget the AI IPOs. Consider the Banks Bringing Them Public.
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley also announced a new AI-related move in wealth management, opening its workplace stock-plan platforms to clients’ AI agents, which could deepen client ties and improve efficiency. Morgan Stanley Expands AI Access to Power Workplace Wealth Hub
• Neutral Sentiment: Reuters reported that Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities aims to grow retail wealth assets by $62 billion over the medium to long term, reinforcing Morgan Stanley’s global wealth-management growth story. Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities aims to grow retail wealth assets by $62 billion
• Negative Sentiment: Several Morgan Stanley-linked notes on other companies were mixed recently, including a price-target cut on General Mills and a cautionary underweight stance on Dell, showing the firm is still selective despite the positive MS narrative. Morgan Stanley Cuts General Mills (GIS) Forecast Again Amid Inflation Concerns

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.