Townsquare Capital LLC Sells 4,678 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Townsquare Capital LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 33.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 9,295 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 4,678 shares during the period. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,650,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 502 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares during the last quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,443 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $256,000 after acquiring an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 4,216 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $748,000 after acquiring an additional 57 shares during the last quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $314,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Howard Financial Services LTD. lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 3,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $635,000 after acquiring an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction 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 approximately $53,209,159.78. This trade represents a 15.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the insider 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

More Morgan Stanley News

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $173.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Bank of America raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.95.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $206.89 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $128.81 and a 12-month high of $219.16. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $191.80 and its 200-day simple moving average is $180.23. The company has a market capitalization of $326.33 billion, a PE ratio of 18.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. 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 (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The business had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.60 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.23%.

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.