Hudson Bay Capital Management LP Cuts Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Hudson Bay Capital Management LP lessened its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 54.2% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 82,466 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 97,453 shares during the quarter. Hudson Bay Capital Management LP’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $13,109,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Brighton Jones LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,136,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.3% during the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 12,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,702,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares during the period. Stonebrook Private Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth about $232,000. Finally, Alteri Wealth LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 3.8% during the 2nd quarter. Alteri Wealth LLC now owns 2,277 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $321,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Charles A. Smith sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.08, for a total transaction of $1,547,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 119,128 shares in the company, valued at $21,690,826.24. This trade represents a 6.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 32,968 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.61, for a total value of $6,020,286.48. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 357,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,254,222.62. The trade was a 8.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 129,191 shares of company stock worth $23,736,506 over the last three months. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wealth management scale — Morgan Stanley’s wealth arm reported IRA assets under management topping $1 trillion, a milestone that supports recurring fee revenue and client stickiness for MS’s highest‑margin business. MS Wealth Management IRA AUM Crosses $1T
• Positive Sentiment: Crypto product pipeline — Morgan Stanley Investment Management has advanced an S‑1 for a spot Bitcoin ETF (ticker MSBT on NYSE Arca). If approved, the trust could generate new fee income and position MS competitively in digital‑asset product distribution. Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF Filing Advances
• Positive Sentiment: Research/trading momentum — Morgan Stanley’s research desk has been active, including bullish calls around AI/semiconductor names (e.g., Nvidia). Strong research and trading flow can support investment‑banking and markets revenues in volatile tape. Morgan Stanley Sounds the Bullish Drum on Nvidia
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/update: Morgan Stanley revised its Fed timing — the firm now expects rate cuts later (September/December), which changes outlook for rates‑sensitive businesses but is a macro view rather than an immediate earnings shock. Morgan Stanley pushes back rate cuts to September and December
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical/positioning note — commentary that MS shows rising relative strength but remains shy of a key benchmark is informational for traders assessing momentum, not a company fundamental. Morgan Stanley shows rising relative strength
• Negative Sentiment: Private‑credit liquidity scare — Morgan Stanley limited redemptions from its North Haven Private Income Fund after a surge in withdrawal requests and flagged rising default risks tied to AI disruption in parts of private credit. That raises short‑term liquidity and reputational risk and could pressure earnings or require provisioning. Morgan Stanley Tests Private Credit Liquidity
• Negative Sentiment: Market‑risk warnings: Morgan Stanley flagged a possible 15%–20% downside for Asian equities if energy risks persist. Those calls reflect the firm’s risk views but also signal potential mark‑to‑market pressure across asset inventories and client portfolios. Morgan Stanley flags 15%–20% downside for Asia stocks

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE MS opened at $158.60 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $94.33 and a fifty-two week high of $192.68. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $173.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $168.35. The stock has a market cap of $251.84 billion, a PE ratio of 15.53, a P/E/G ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.40. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.09% and a return on equity of 16.78%. The company had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.22 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 39.18%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the topic of several research reports. HSBC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Erste Group Bank reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $202.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target 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. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.14.

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.