Morgan Stanley $MS is Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc.’s 6th Largest Position

Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc. decreased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 7.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 571,883 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 44,692 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley makes up about 4.3% of Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. Woodley Farra Manion Portfolio Management Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $90,906,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MS. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.1% in the third quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. now owns 3,120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the third quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 2,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $416,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the third quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,102,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the last quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 8.1% in the 3rd quarter. Hanson & Doremus Investment Management now owns 877 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $139,000 after buying an additional 66 shares during the period. Finally, LeConte Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. LeConte Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,841 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $293,000 after buying an additional 66 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.3%

MS traded up $0.47 on Friday, hitting $174.84. The company had a trading volume of 333,968 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,447,669. The stock has a market capitalization of $277.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $180.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $165.83. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $94.33 and a 12-month high of $192.68.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.69 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.09% and a return on equity of 16.92%. The company’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.22 EPS. Analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.18%.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly results beat expectations. Q4 EPS and revenue topped consensus (EPS $2.68 vs. $2.28 est.; revenue ~$17.9B, +10% YoY), showing earnings leverage across the bank’s businesses — a clear fundamental positive for MS’s valuation and dividend/earnings outlook. Morgan Stanley Q4 2025 earnings
• Positive Sentiment: Product/fee moves may boost client activity. Morgan Stanley’s EquityZen unit cut transaction fees, which could increase retail/secondary-market flows and revenue over time if volume follows. EquityZen fee cuts (Reuters)
• Positive Sentiment: Strategic positioning around crypto, AI and securitization. Recent commentary/coverage highlights Morgan Stanley linking crypto, AI and securitization to its valuation story — signaling the firm is active in growth themes investors care about. Morgan Stanley connects crypto, AI (Yahoo)
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst and research activity continues to be visible. Morgan Stanley research is issuing calls and price-target moves across many names (biology, retail, tech). That underlines the firm’s commercial and research footprint, which supports fee businesses but has limited immediate impact on MS equity. Example: Morgan Stanley analyst notes (TipRanks)
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional investing exposure (crypto-related). Filings show Morgan Stanley raised exposure to BitMine (BMNR) in Q4 — this highlights the firm’s client/investment activity in crypto-linked assets but can be read either way depending on outcomes. MS increases BMNR exposure (Cointelegraph)
• Negative Sentiment: Operating cash flow weakness. Despite reported profits, cash from operations swung materially negative in the quarter (reported by company filings), a metric investors watch for banks and wealth managers because it can signal balance-sheet or working-capital stress. Q4 results & cash flow (Quiver)
• Negative Sentiment: Reputational/legal headline: Epstein-related accounts. Reporting that Morgan Stanley opened accounts for Epstein trusts as late as 2019 is a reputational/legal overhang that can trigger investor caution and potential regulatory scrutiny. Epstein trusts accounts story (Yahoo)
• Negative Sentiment: Executive/insider selling noted. Recent filings show multiple insider sales among senior MS executives; while insider sales can be routine, clustered selling raises governance/near-term sentiment questions for some investors. (Also summarized in the Q4 release.) Insider activity in Q4 release

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 32,968 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.61, for a total transaction of $6,020,286.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 357,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,254,222.62. This represents a 8.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.55, for a total value of $3,691,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 127,872 shares in the company, valued at $23,598,777.60. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 129,191 shares of company stock worth $23,736,506. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on MS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $157.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $207.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Friday, January 16th. HSBC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $185.93.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.