Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Acquired by Natixis Advisors LLC

Natixis Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,059,010 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,871 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.07% of Morgan Stanley worth $188,006,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MS. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth about $2,736,648,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 buying an additional 1,361,940 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2,332.9% during the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,406,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $249,710,000 after buying an additional 1,348,683 shares during the period. Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the third quarter worth about $170,037,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 40.2% during the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,933,604 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $466,326,000 after buying an additional 841,263 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on MS. Bank of America raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.95.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of MS opened at $211.07 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. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $184.82 and a 200-day simple moving average of $177.79. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $126.36 and a 1-year high of $212.11. The stock has a market cap of $332.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The business had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.60 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total value of $2,779,935.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,224,370.48. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible 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 completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s analysts and strategists remain active and constructive across several key themes, including AI infrastructure, cloud spending, and global growth opportunities, which can support investor confidence in the firm’s research franchise and advisory relevance.
• Positive Sentiment: The firm was cited in coverage on India equities, where Morgan Stanley reiterated a bullish long-term view despite near-term headwinds, reinforcing its reputation as a well-followed macro and market strategist. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley also drew attention for bullish calls on AI-related names such as Microsoft and other large-cap tech leaders, which may be supporting optimism around the bank’s equity research and wealth management insights. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: The company was also mentioned in connection with a sector rotation study from E*TRADE, but that release is more informational than directly stock-moving. Article Title

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.