Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Buys 7,950 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 128,964 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,950 shares during the quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $22,895,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 40.1% in the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 29,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,281,000 after buying an additional 8,512 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 103.1% during the third quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 12,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,019,000 after purchasing an additional 6,448 shares in the last quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% during the third quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 467,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,273,000 after purchasing an additional 9,056 shares in the last quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 52.6% during the third quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 113,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,043,000 after purchasing an additional 39,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, A4 Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the third quarter valued at approximately $855,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on MS. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $196.00 to $214.00 in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $204.17.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.6%

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $190.33 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $300.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $119.99 and a 12 month high of $194.83. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $172.76 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $173.64.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $2.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.23%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly 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 SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the company’s 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 have sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 over the last ninety days. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

More Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Analysts raised targets on MS — UBS bumped its price target to $214 (from $196), signaling constructive views on MS’s revenue mix and capital-markets positioning, which is supportive for the stock over the medium term. UBS raises Morgan Stanley PT
• Positive Sentiment: Daiwa also raised its MS target, another analyst-friendly datapoint that can support sentiment versus pure-market moves. Daiwa raises MS PT
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley Direct Lending Fund (an MS‑linked vehicle) reported NII of $0.47, a small beat that indicates pockets of stable fee/income performance in MS’s broader alternative/credit businesses. That helps offset some weakness elsewhere. MSDL NII beats
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is piloting spot crypto trading on E*Trade with aggressive 50 bps fees — a distribution and product-expansion positive long term, but it also risks starting a fee war (and regulatory/operational execution issues) that could pressure brokerage margins. Market reaction is mixed. MS crypto pilot on E*Trade
• Negative Sentiment: Client-team loss: Wells Fargo hired a $1.5B Pennsylvania wealth team from Morgan Stanley — a modest asset outflow and a visible win for a competitor that can pressure MS’s wealth‑management flows and near-term AUM momentum. Wells Fargo hires MS team

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.