Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC Increases Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 274.3% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 26,176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,182 shares during the period. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,161,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,234,883,000. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 23.4% during the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,357,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,318,055,000 after acquiring an additional 1,776,544 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 319.7% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,092,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $294,727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,593,774 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 18.1% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,623,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,355,537,000 after acquiring an additional 1,476,372 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,123,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,779,734,000 after purchasing an additional 1,354,142 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

More Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Selected as one of the Wall Street banks involved in a large Pentagon/defense financing initiative — a potential source of advisory fees and franchise work. Pentagon taps Morgan Stanley for defense initiative
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s research/public commentary on AI and macro trends keeps the firm visible to institutional clients and supports its wealth & investment‑management franchise positioning. That can help offset short‑term trading volatility. Morgan Stanley: AI Revolution Set to Disrupt Jobs and Energy Infrastructure
• Neutral Sentiment: Firm commentary on monetary policy (warning that rate cuts are unlikely soon) is driving market context rather than company-specific flows — it influences investor expectations for bank earnings broadly. Don’t Expect Interest Rate Cuts Anytime Soon, Says Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley trimmed a voting stake in Siemens Energy — a portfolio/positioning adjustment that is informational but not material to core operating results. Morgan Stanley Trims Siemens Energy Voting Stake
• Negative Sentiment: The primary near‑term driver: Morgan Stanley capped redemptions at its North Haven private‑income/private‑credit fund after investors requested ~10.9% in redemptions; the fund honored a 5% quarterly repurchase cap. That gating triggered investor concern about private‑credit liquidity and valuation transparency and was the proximate cause of a multi‑percent selloff in MS and other alternative‑asset managers. Morgan Stanley restricts redemptions at private credit fund
• Negative Sentiment: Private‑credit contagion and gating at other managers (Cliffwater, BlackRock coverage) amplified sector risk — investors rotated out of financials and alternative‑asset exposure on worries about defaults, liquidity and mark‑to‑model valuations. Morgan Stanley and Cliffwater limit private credit withdrawals (FT)
• Negative Sentiment: Negative sentiment was reinforced on social channels and media coverage, which likely exacerbated intraday selling pressure and short‑term volatility even though underlying wealth & advisory metrics remain more stable. Wall Street’s Own Stock Is Getting Hammered on Reddit

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.3%

Shares of MS opened at $154.84 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $176.11 and a two-hundred day moving average of $168.26. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $94.33 and a fifty-two week high of $192.68. The company has a market capitalization of $245.87 billion, a PE ratio of 15.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $17.90 billion during 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 16.78%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $2.22 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 39.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $202.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $207.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Friday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $177.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Jefferies Financial Group cut Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $187.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 32,968 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.61, for a total value of $6,020,286.48. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 357,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,254,222.62. This trade represents a 8.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 127,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,598,777.60. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 129,191 shares of company stock worth $23,736,506 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.