Vest Financial LLC Grows Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

Vest Financial LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 33.1% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 28,269 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 7,030 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $5,019,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Farther Finance Advisors LLC lifted its stake 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 valued at $5,281,000 after purchasing an additional 8,512 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 103.1% during the 3rd 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 increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 467,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,273,000 after acquiring an additional 9,056 shares during the period. ABN Amro Investment Solutions increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 52.6% in the 3rd quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 113,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,043,000 after acquiring an additional 39,104 shares during the period. Finally, A4 Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at $855,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total value of $9,744,068.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 282,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 32,968 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 357,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $65,254,222.62. The trade was a 8.45% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 110,444 shares of company stock valued at $20,665,049. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group raised its FY2026 and FY2027 EPS forecasts for Morgan Stanley, reflecting better-than-expected earnings outlooks from the firm’s wealth and institutional businesses — a constructive signal for MS’s medium‑term earnings power.
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks upgraded Morgan Stanley to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), which can attract momentum buyers and retail flows. Zacks Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley Investment Management led an $875M senior debt financing for Bridgepointe Technologies — a reminder of MS’s deal flow and fee‑generating private credit/asset-management activity, which supports non‑interest revenue. Deal Announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley continues to be active as an advisor/analyst across sectors (recent notes and industry coverage), underscoring its lead role in institutional markets — supportive longer term but not an immediate catalyst.
• Negative Sentiment: Broad market/sector weakness — especially large‑cap tech and AI‑related names — is pressuring equities and trading volumes today. Lower market volatility or pullbacks in big tech can reduce institutional trading and investment‑banking activity, a near‑term headwind for MS. Market/Meta Reaction
• Negative Sentiment: MS traded with lighter-than-average volume today while the stock pulled back — suggesting profit‑taking or short‑term repositioning despite the bullish analyst notes. That can amplify intraday moves.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $186.85 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $295.49 billion, a PE ratio of 16.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $171.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $172.62. 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 52-week low of $112.03 and a 52-week high of $194.59.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 14.65%.Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.60 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.8 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. 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 report on Thursday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Daiwa Securities Group dropped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $187.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Eleven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $201.89.

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.