Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC Sells 25,306 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC cut its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 10.0% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 227,304 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 25,306 shares during the quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $36,132,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at about $28,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 65.2% during the third quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. now owns 185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 91.9% in the third quarter. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC now owns 213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $38,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 21,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total value of $3,966,120.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 171,005 shares in the company, valued at $31,464,920. The trade was a 11.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 30,330 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.62, for a total value of $5,569,194.60. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 280,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,501,921.22. This represents a 9.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 129,191 shares of company stock worth $23,736,506. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q4 2025 earnings beat — Morgan Stanley reported $2.68 diluted EPS (above $2.28 consensus) and $17.9B revenue (above consensus), with profit and ROE improving versus year-ago results. That beat supports valuation multiples and investor confidence in core businesses. Morgan Stanley Q4 2025 earnings (Quiver)
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is cutting transaction fees on private-share trading via its EquityZen marketplace, widening access to private markets for clients and potentially increasing platform volume and AUM-driven fees over time. This is a strategic, client-facing fee action that supports recurring fee growth. MS press release: EquityZen fee reduction
• Neutral Sentiment: Institutional positioning and research influence — filings and press coverage show Morgan Stanley increasing certain crypto-related stakes (e.g., BitMine) and remaining active with analyst coverage (initiations/ratings across GE, CoreWeave, etc.). These activities highlight diversified revenue/alpha generation but carry mixed risk/reward. Wall Street boosts Bitmine stakes (Cointelegraph)
• Neutral Sentiment: Research calls can move sectors — recent Morgan Stanley analyst notes (e.g., cautious stance ahead of CoreWeave earnings, new coverage of GE Aerospace) underscore the firm’s market influence; that can amplify short-term flows but is not a direct corporate catalyst for MS itself. TipRanks: Morgan Stanley on CoreWeave
• Negative Sentiment: Reputational/legal risk — reporting that Morgan Stanley opened accounts for Epstein-related trusts as late as 2019 could raise regulatory or reputational questions and short-term investor caution, particularly if follow-up scrutiny or legal exposure emerges. Yahoo Finance: Morgan Stanley opened accounts for Epstein trusts
• Negative Sentiment: Cash-flow and insider activity flagged in the quarter — while EPS/revenue beat, cash from operating activities swung materially negative (reported roughly -$2.4B) and the company disclosed multiple insider stock sales in recent filings. Those items can temper enthusiasm and are reasons some investors may trim positions despite the headline beat. Morgan Stanley Q4 2025 earnings (Quiver)

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $177.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. HSBC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $157.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and nine have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $185.93.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS opened at $175.25 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $180.35 and a 200 day simple moving average of $166.42. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $94.33 and a 52-week high of $192.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $278.27 billion, a PE ratio of 17.16, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.40. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.09% and a return on equity of 16.78%. The firm had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.22 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th were paid a $1.00 dividend. 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 2.3%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.18%.

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.