USS Investment Management Ltd Purchases 3,300 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

USS Investment Management Ltd grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.6% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 206,769 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,300 shares during the quarter. USS Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $34,020,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% 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 raised its price target on MS to $240 from $220 and kept an Outperform rating, signaling continued confidence in the bank’s upside. MarketScreener
• Positive Sentiment: The company continues to highlight strong capital-return potential, with recent coverage pointing to share repurchases and shareholder payouts as supportive for valuation. MarketBeat
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s strategists are making broad macro calls on oil, semiconductors, AI, and market broadening, keeping the firm in the headlines but not directly changing fundamentals for MS. MarketWatch
• Neutral Sentiment: The bank also received broader analyst attention and “moderate buy” style coverage, which supports the stock but does not appear to be a fresh catalyst by itself. American Banking News

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Oppenheimer lowered Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Bank of America increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Citizens Jmp restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.50.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were 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 directly owned 169,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,224,370.48. This represents a 3.86% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of MS opened at $209.03 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $203.93 and its 200 day simple moving average is $184.99. The company has a market capitalization of $329.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.23. 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 $135.26 and a 1-year high of $230.47.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly 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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The business had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.60 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 11.81 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 36.23%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are often an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

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.