National Pension Service Raises Stock Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,829,303 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 163,227 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $502,286,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $28,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1,855.6% in the fourth quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 65.2% in the third quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. now owns 185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on MS. Wolfe Research cut their price objective 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. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 5th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $171.00 to $183.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. HSBC lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $173.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.95.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the insider owned 282,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,209,159.78. The trade was a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total transaction of $2,779,935.60. Following the transaction, the insider owned 365,802 shares in the company, valued at $69,224,370.48. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley continued to benefit from strong recent earnings, with the company having recently beaten consensus on both EPS and revenue, reinforcing confidence in its operating performance.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary highlighted “record revenue” and rising dividends, which can help attract income-focused investors and support the stock’s valuation. Record Revenue, Rising Dividends—So Why Aren’t Analysts Saying Buy? (MS)
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst coverage remains constructive overall, including multiple buy-equivalent ratings and a recent price target of $610 from Morgan Stanley analyst Manan Gosalia on Broadcom-related coverage, which reflects the firm’s continued visibility across key growth themes.
• Neutral Sentiment: Some articles mention Morgan Stanley in connection with broader market calls and conference sponsorships, which are not direct catalysts for MS shares but keep the firm in the headlines.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.1%

MS stock opened at $203.90 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $321.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.47, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.22. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $182.79 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.18. 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 has a 52 week low of $126.35 and a 52 week high of $204.38.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.60 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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%.

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.