Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC Acquires 5,132 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 105.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,978 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,132 shares during the period. Patriot Financial Group Insurance Agency LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,642,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 69.0% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 8,964 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,263,000 after purchasing an additional 3,661 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 90.9% in the second quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,378,000 after purchasing an additional 7,688 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.3% in the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 263,575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $37,127,000 after purchasing an additional 15,623 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 7.8% in the second quarter. Jupiter Wealth Management LLC now owns 52,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,805,000 after buying an additional 3,807 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $212.16 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $135.26 and a one year high of $230.47. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $203.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $184.79. The stock has a market cap of $334.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.22, a PEG ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. The company had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.60 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 11.81 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 36.23%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase program on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to buy up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: BMO Capital Markets raised its price target on Morgan Stanley to $240 from $220 and kept an Outperform rating, signaling confidence in further upside. MarketScreener article
• Positive Sentiment: The company also announced a higher quarterly dividend and a new $20 billion share repurchase authorization, which should appeal to income and capital-return investors. Yahoo Finance article
• Positive Sentiment: Investor sentiment around Morgan Stanley has also been helped by broader optimism on IPOs and equity issuance, which could support the firm’s investment banking franchise if deal activity stays strong into 2026. Stocktwits article
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is being cited in several third-party articles, including commentary on broader market themes and sector stock picks, which adds visibility but does not appear to be a direct earnings catalyst. Yahoo Finance article
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent coverage also notes that Morgan Stanley continues to make stock calls across utilities, beverage, and other sectors, reinforcing its role as a market-moving analyst but not changing MS fundamentals by itself.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $179.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, June 12th. CICC Research raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Zacks Research lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Citizens Jmp reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $210.50.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred 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 approximately $69,224,370.48. This trade represents a 3.86% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total value of $9,744,068.12. Following the sale, the insider owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

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.