Mach 1 Financial Group LLC Acquires Shares of 17,493 Morgan Stanley $MS

Mach 1 Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 17,493 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,106,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,253,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,940 shares during the period. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 27,321,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,343,523,000 after purchasing an additional 167,487 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,494,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,893,590,000 after purchasing an additional 448,960 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,260,650 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,267,847,000 after purchasing an additional 822,120 shares during the period. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,712,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,543,831,000 after purchasing an additional 354,871 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total transaction of $2,779,935.60. Following the sale, the insider owned 365,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,224,370.48. This trade represents a 3.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total transaction of $2,120,758.50. Following the sale, the insider owned 169,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders have sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 in the last 90 days. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $197.70 on Thursday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $177.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $175.58. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $123.88 and a one year high of $198.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of $311.83 billion, a PE ratio of 17.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.23%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on MS. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $207.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.95.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is reportedly one of the lead banks working with OpenAI on a confidential IPO filing, positioning the firm to benefit from underwriting, advisory, and related capital-markets fees if the deal moves forward. OpenAI readies IPO filing to list as soon as September
• Positive Sentiment: Separate coverage highlighted Morgan Stanley’s involvement in AI-related dealmaking and broader technology M&A, reinforcing the view that the bank is well positioned to capture activity tied to the AI investment cycle. Morgan Stanley Sees AI Deals Spreading Across Chips, Power, and Data Centers
• Neutral Sentiment: Other headlines were mostly commentary or positioning updates, including notes on Morgan Stanley’s outlook for Fed rate cuts and its tighter device/security policy for China travel, which are unlikely to move the stock on their own.

About Morgan Stanley

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.