Morgan Stanley $MS Stake Lifted by Employees Retirement System of Texas

Employees Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 15.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 482,500 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 65,100 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $85,658,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after buying an additional 1,185 shares in the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 69.0% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 8,964 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,263,000 after buying an additional 3,661 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 90.9% during the second quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,378,000 after acquiring an additional 7,688 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 6.3% during the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 263,575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,127,000 after acquiring an additional 15,623 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 7.8% in the second quarter. Jupiter Wealth Management LLC now owns 52,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,805,000 after acquiring an additional 3,807 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MS. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Wolfe Research reduced their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.95.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total transaction of $2,120,758.50. Following the sale, the insider directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The shares were 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 $69,224,370.48. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.4%

NYSE:MS opened at $201.81 on Wednesday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $180.96 and a 200 day simple moving average of $176.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $318.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.22. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $126.35 and a 1-year high of $203.92. 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 data on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.60 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 36.23%.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s own recent coverage points to solid first-quarter results, with strong client engagement plus strength in investment banking and trading, which has helped support the stock’s recent rise.
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent articles also highlight Morgan Stanley analyst actions that are constructive on other names, reinforcing the firm’s active role in sector coverage and keeping attention on its research franchise.
• Neutral Sentiment: New headlines include Morgan Stanley revising price targets on peers such as Royal Caribbean, Aflac, ADP, NextEra Energy, Park Hotels, and Equinor; these are more relevant to those stocks than to MS itself, but they keep Morgan Stanley in the spotlight as a key Wall Street opinion leader.
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also still weighing broader macro and sector sentiment, which can influence Morgan Stanley shares even without a direct earnings surprise or guidance change.
• Negative Sentiment: One notable overhang is regulatory scrutiny tied to Morgan Stanley’s German banking unit structure, where Senator Elizabeth Warren is urging regulators to reconsider an exemption. That could raise questions about capital and cross-border structuring, which is a modest valuation risk for a global bank.

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.