WCG Wealth Advisors LLC Takes $2.25 Million Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

WCG Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 12,668 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,249,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1,855.6% during the fourth quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Finally, High Note Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 59.8% during the fourth quarter. High Note Wealth LLC now owns 187 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after acquiring an additional 70 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS opened at $212.44 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $335.07 billion, a PE ratio of 19.24, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.23. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $188.81 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $179.05. 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 has a 1 year low of $128.81 and a 1 year high of $219.16.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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

Morgan Stanley News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley was named a lead underwriter for Anthropic’s IPO, reinforcing its position in major capital-markets mandates. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Land Anthropic IPO
• Positive Sentiment: The firm also expanded its wealth-management/crypto offering through a referral arrangement with Galaxy Digital, which could support longer-term client engagement and product breadth. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and Galaxy Digital Announce Referral Capability for In-Kind Creation of Spot Crypto ETP Shares
• Positive Sentiment: Management continues to see strong opportunities in selected financials names, including a recent positive stance on peers such as UnitedHealth and other coverage names, underscoring active analyst engagement across the franchise. UnitedHealth Positioned As AI Leader: Analyst
• Neutral Sentiment: Media attention around Morgan Stanley’s bullish SpaceX revenue outlook and related IPO coverage keeps the firm in the spotlight, but this is more of a longer-dated franchise story than an immediate earnings driver. Market Chatter: Morgan Stanley Projects SpaceX’s Revenue Reaching $3.4 Trillion in 2040

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MS shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Evercore lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Barclays lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Dbs Bank lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus 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.