Nuveen LLC Trims Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Nuveen LLC cut its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 5,413,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 246,753 shares during the quarter. Nuveen LLC owned approximately 0.34% of Morgan Stanley worth $961,015,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MS. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 1,855.6% during the 4th quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is being highlighted as a likely beneficiary of a coming wave of AI-related IPOs, with reports saying the bank could earn significant underwriting, trading, and advisory fees from deals such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX. Barrons AI IPO article
• Positive Sentiment: Another report said Morgan Stanley’s leadership is “wide awake” to M&A opportunities, with wealth management and asset management cited as areas for potential inorganic growth, which supports optimism around longer-term expansion. Morgan Stanley M&A opportunities article
• Positive Sentiment: The bank also announced it is expanding AI access on its workplace wealth platform, allowing clients’ AI agents to interact with stock-plan tools, a move that could deepen client relationships and improve the digital wealth-management offering. Morgan Stanley AI access article
• Neutral Sentiment: Additional commentary on Morgan Stanley’s role in upcoming IPO activity and broader market momentum has kept the stock in focus, but these items are more thematic than directly company-specific. Morgan Stanley IPO realities article

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $212.74 on Friday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $192.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $180.61. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. The company has a market cap of $335.55 billion, a PE ratio of 19.27, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.23. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $128.81 and a 52-week high of $219.16.

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. The firm had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.60 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 EPS for the current 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 dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.23%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Dbs Bank increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.95.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider owned 282,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 is available through this link. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total transaction of $2,779,935.60. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,224,370.48. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 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.

About Morgan Stanley

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.