Heartland Bank & Trust Co Makes New $1.33 Million Investment in Morgan Stanley $MS

Heartland Bank & Trust Co acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 7,488 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,329,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in 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 acquiring an additional 1,361,940 shares during the last quarter. Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter worth approximately $170,037,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 40.2% in the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,933,604 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $466,326,000 after acquiring an additional 841,263 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.1% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,260,650 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,267,847,000 after acquiring an additional 822,120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 150.3% during the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,234,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $196,311,000 after buying an additional 741,651 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The stock was 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total value 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. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $188.22 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $117.21 and a 52 week high of $194.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $171.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $172.99. The company has a market capitalization of $297.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.05, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.22.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 14.65%.The business had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $2.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th will be paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 36.23%.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley was named a lead arranger on a roughly $13 billion financing for Meta’s planned El Paso data?center, a large corporate financing that should generate sizable underwriting and advisory fees and signals continued dealflow in tech infrastructure. Meta taps Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan for El Paso data center deal
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley Investment Management launched a centralized Wealth Education Center for advisors — a distribution and client?education tool that can help drive AUM retention and advisory flows over time. Morgan Stanley Investment Management Introduces Wealth Education Center
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley research remains active and visible (notes on tech, semiconductors and AI capex), which supports the firm’s reputation and potential trading/research revenue but is an indirect driver of stock moves. Morgan Stanley Lifts Targets on Semiconductor Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley commentary that strong tech earnings could offset geopolitical risk underscores its role in market strategy; this is more reputational than immediately earnings?moving. Morgan Stanley Sees Tech Earnings Eclipsing Iran War for Stocks
• Negative Sentiment: Financial-sector weakness today is pressuring banks broadly; MS is being pulled lower with the group as investors trim exposure to rate and macro risk. Sector Update: Financial Stocks Decline in Afternoon Trading
• Negative Sentiment: Intraday trading shows below?average volume and profit?taking after recent gains; lower demand can amplify downward moves even when firm?level headlines are positive. MS stock trading details

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on MS. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $195.00 to $196.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 7th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $171.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $173.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.89.

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.