Pictet Asset Management Holding SA Cuts Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

Pictet Asset Management Holding SA lessened its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 14.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 713,742 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 119,677 shares during the period. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $117,461,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 21.5% during the first quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. now owns 353,714 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $57,286,000 after acquiring an additional 62,528 shares during the period. Cambient Family Office LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 17.0% during the first quarter. Cambient Family Office LLC now owns 4,858 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $799,000 after purchasing an additional 707 shares in the last quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Lewis Asset Management LLC now owns 2,299 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $378,000 after purchasing an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. River Street Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 4.4% in the 1st quarter. River Street Advisors LLC now owns 22,701 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,736,000 after purchasing an additional 959 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Venturi Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 7.0% during the 1st quarter. Venturi Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,841 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,290,000 after purchasing an additional 516 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Raised its quarterly dividend to $1.15 per share and reapproved a $20 billion share repurchase program, signaling confidence in capital strength and shareholder returns.
• Positive Sentiment: Continued to highlight strength in its core franchise, with recent earnings showing strong revenue and profit growth and analysts still expecting double-digit earnings growth into the next quarter.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several recent articles also quote Morgan Stanley strategists and analysts on broader market themes, including the tech selloff and AI trade, but these comments are not direct operating updates for MS.
• Negative Sentiment: Private-credit redemption pressure is weighing on sentiment, as investors worry that withdrawal limits in Morgan Stanley’s fund could be a sign of broader stress in the sector.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $196.00 to $214.00 in a research report on Wednesday, May 6th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $179.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Finally, CICC Research increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 19th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $209.50.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE MS opened at $212.85 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $203.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.55. The company has a market capitalization of $335.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.28, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.23. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $135.26 and a 1-year high of $230.47. 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 (NYSE:MS) last posted 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. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The company had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.60 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.81 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.23%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has initiated a share repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total value of $9,744,068.12. Following the sale, the insider owned 282,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total transaction of $2,120,758.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 169,403 shares in the company, valued at $32,313,622.25. This represents a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

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.