New Millennium Group LLC Buys 29,361 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

New Millennium Group LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 101,244.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 29,390 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 29,361 shares during the quarter. Morgan Stanley makes up 2.1% of New Millennium Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. New Millennium Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,672,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,234,883,000. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 23.4% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,357,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,318,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,776,544 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of 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 worth $294,727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,593,774 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 18.1% in 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 buying an additional 1,476,372 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.1% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,123,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $16,779,734,000 after buying an additional 1,354,142 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 results beat Wall Street on both EPS and revenue, with year‑over‑year revenue and profit growth — supporting MS’s valuation and dividend story. The release also highlighted strong operating profit and ROE, reinforcing investor confidence in the core wealth & institutional franchises. Article
• Positive Sentiment: EquityZen (a Morgan Stanley unit) cut transaction fees — a commercial move that should help win volume and improve competitiveness in the private markets platform over time. This supports MS’s fee-income growth narrative. Article
• Positive Sentiment: Research / strategy narrative: Morgan Stanley is publicly tying crypto, AI and securitization themes into its valuation story — useful for positioning the bank’s investment banking, asset management and capital solutions businesses ahead of secular flows. That thematic framing can support multiple revenue streams. Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst activity from Morgan Stanley (price-target/coverage moves on companies such as Arista, Walmart and others) highlights the strength of MS’s research franchise — a credibility + distribution positive for investment-banking flow but not an immediate driver of MS stock performance. Article
• Neutral Sentiment: Corporate calendar: Morgan Stanley scheduled its next investor conference call for Jan 14, 2027 — routine but useful for forward guidance and investor access. Article
• Negative Sentiment: Reputational/legal risk: reporting that Morgan Stanley opened accounts for Epstein trusts as late as 2019 introduces potential reputational scrutiny and could invite regulatory or legal questions; that risk can weigh on near‑term sentiment even if financial exposure is limited. Article
• Negative Sentiment: Cash-flow weakness flagged in Q4 — cash from operations swung negative (~-$2.4B) despite earnings and revenue beats. Investors will watch whether this is a one-off working-capital pattern or a recurring issue that could pressure capital deployment and buybacks. Article
• Negative Sentiment: Insider selling: recent filings show multiple senior executives sold shares in the period after earnings — a potential signal investors monitor, though routine selling by executives is common and may be for diversification/liquidity. Article

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MS. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $207.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $185.93.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS opened at $174.31 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $180.42 and a 200 day moving average of $165.83. The stock has a market cap of $277.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.07, a PEG ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $94.33 and a 52-week high of $192.68.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.69 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.09% and a return on equity of 16.92%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.22 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.18%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 30,330 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.62, for a total value of $5,569,194.60. Following the transaction, the insider owned 280,481 shares in the company, valued at $51,501,921.22. The trade was a 9.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.55, for a total transaction of $3,691,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 127,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,598,777.60. The trade was a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 129,191 shares of company stock valued at $23,736,506 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.