Clark Capital Management Group Inc. Raises Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Clark Capital Management Group Inc. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 973,640 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 98,348 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley comprises approximately 1.0% of Clark Capital Management Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 16th largest position. Clark Capital Management Group Inc. owned 0.06% of Morgan Stanley worth $154,770,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Angeles Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.1% in the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,843 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $929,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. now owns 3,120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares in the last quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 2,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $416,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Cadence Bank raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 2,183 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $347,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,102,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Charles A. Smith sold 8,500 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.08, for a total transaction of $1,547,680.00. Following 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 30,330 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.62, for a total transaction of $5,569,194.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 280,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,501,921.22. This trade represents a 9.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 129,191 shares of company stock worth $23,736,506. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.3%

MS opened at $154.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $94.33 and a one year high of $192.68. The company has a market cap of $245.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.17, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.20. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $176.11 and its 200-day simple moving average is $168.26.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.40. The firm had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.69 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.78% and a net margin of 14.09%.The firm’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.22 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.6%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.18%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $207.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Wolfe Research reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $211.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $202.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $187.14.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Selected as one of the Wall Street banks involved in a large Pentagon/defense financing initiative — a potential source of advisory fees and franchise work. Pentagon taps Morgan Stanley for defense initiative
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s research/public commentary on AI and macro trends keeps the firm visible to institutional clients and supports its wealth & investment‑management franchise positioning. That can help offset short‑term trading volatility. Morgan Stanley: AI Revolution Set to Disrupt Jobs and Energy Infrastructure
• Neutral Sentiment: Firm commentary on monetary policy (warning that rate cuts are unlikely soon) is driving market context rather than company-specific flows — it influences investor expectations for bank earnings broadly. Don’t Expect Interest Rate Cuts Anytime Soon, Says Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley trimmed a voting stake in Siemens Energy — a portfolio/positioning adjustment that is informational but not material to core operating results. Morgan Stanley Trims Siemens Energy Voting Stake
• Negative Sentiment: The primary near‑term driver: Morgan Stanley capped redemptions at its North Haven private‑income/private‑credit fund after investors requested ~10.9% in redemptions; the fund honored a 5% quarterly repurchase cap. That gating triggered investor concern about private‑credit liquidity and valuation transparency and was the proximate cause of a multi‑percent selloff in MS and other alternative‑asset managers. Morgan Stanley restricts redemptions at private credit fund
• Negative Sentiment: Private‑credit contagion and gating at other managers (Cliffwater, BlackRock coverage) amplified sector risk — investors rotated out of financials and alternative‑asset exposure on worries about defaults, liquidity and mark‑to‑model valuations. Morgan Stanley and Cliffwater limit private credit withdrawals (FT)
• Negative Sentiment: Negative sentiment was reinforced on social channels and media coverage, which likely exacerbated intraday selling pressure and short‑term volatility even though underlying wealth & advisory metrics remain more stable. Wall Street’s Own Stock Is Getting Hammered on Reddit

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.