Vest Financial LLC Purchases 4,087 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Vest Financial LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 23.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,239 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,087 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,376,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,234,883,000. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 23.4% in the second 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 in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 319.7% in the second 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. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 18.1% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,623,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,355,537,000 after acquiring an additional 1,476,372 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,354,142 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $207.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Friday, January 16th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Zacks Research upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $157.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $177.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $185.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 15,838 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 135,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,135,424.08. This trade represents a 10.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.55, for a total value of $3,691,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 127,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,598,777.60. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 196,223 shares of company stock worth $34,150,220 over the last three months. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $183.00 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $290.84 billion, a PE ratio of 17.92, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $176.63 and its 200 day moving average is $160.79. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $94.33 and a fifty-two week high of $192.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.40. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.09% and a return on equity of 16.92%. The company had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $2.22 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.18%.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

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.