Vest Financial LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 23.8% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 21,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,087 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,376,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth approximately $2,234,883,000. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 23.4% in the 2nd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,357,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,318,055,000 after buying an additional 1,776,544 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 319.7% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,092,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $294,727,000 after buying an additional 1,593,774 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 18.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,123,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,779,734,000 after buying an additional 1,354,142 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on MS shares. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $157.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $211.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $185.93.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE MS opened at $183.00 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $176.63 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $160.79. The firm has a market capitalization of $290.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $94.33 and a 12-month high of $192.68.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.40. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.92% and a net margin of 14.09%.The firm had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $2.22 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.18%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In related news, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 15,838 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.77, for a total value of $2,942,225.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 135,304 shares in the company, valued at $25,135,424.08. This trade represents a 10.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 21,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $3,966,120.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 171,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,464,920. This represents a 11.19% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last three months, insiders have sold 196,223 shares of company stock valued at $34,150,220. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: High‑visibility investment‑banking mandate: Morgan Stanley was named one of the lead banks on the anticipated SpaceX IPO. That mandate can produce substantial advisory and underwriting fees and supports sentiment around MS’s investment‑banking pipeline. Elon Musk’s SpaceX lines up 4 banks for blockbuster IPO
• Positive Sentiment: Solid recent fundamentals and shareholder return: Morgan Stanley reported a January quarterbeat (EPS and revenue ahead of consensus) and declared a $1.00 quarterly dividend ($4.00 annualized). Those items support valuation and income investors. (See MS company page for the filings and detail.) Morgan Stanley stock page
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro research flagged policy risk: Morgan Stanley research has highlighted geopolitical and U.S. policy risks (e.g., trade and reserve‑currency dynamics) that could alter capital flows — useful for positioning but not an immediate stock catalyst. Trump policies put dollar dominance under fresh global scrutiny
• Negative Sentiment: Large, clustered insider sales disclosed this week: multiple senior executives filed Form 4s selling sizable blocks (examples include Andrew Saperstein, Eric Grossman, Michael Pizzi, Sharon Yeshaya and Charles Smith). Concentrated insider selling can increase near‑term supply and create caution for some investors. Morgan Stanley insider selling alert

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.