Rathbones Group PLC Has $125.23 Million Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Rathbones Group PLC lessened its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 8.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 705,425 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 66,494 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $125,234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 29,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $5,281,000 after buying an additional 8,512 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 103.1% during the third quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 12,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,019,000 after buying an additional 6,448 shares during the last quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% during the third quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 467,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $74,273,000 after buying an additional 9,056 shares during the last quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 52.6% during the third quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 113,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,043,000 after buying an additional 39,104 shares during the last quarter. Finally, A4 Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the third quarter worth about $855,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,224,370.48. This trade represents a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,209,159.78. The trade was a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on MS shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $207.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Evercore upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.95.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS opened at $197.70 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $123.88 and a one year high of $198.07. 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $177.48 and its 200-day simple moving average is $175.58. The stock has a market capitalization of $311.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $2.60 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.0%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.23%.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is helping lead a wave of renewed AI-dealmaking optimism, with its global technology M&A head saying AI-related transactions are likely to broaden beyond chips into power, data centers, and other infrastructure. This supports the bank’s investment-banking growth narrative. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI is reportedly preparing an IPO filing and working with Morgan Stanley as one of its bankers. That would be a high-profile mandate and could add to fees and visibility for MS if the deal moves forward. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley also raised its price target on NextEra Energy after the Dominion deal, reinforcing that the firm remains active and constructive across equity research coverage. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Financial stocks were broadly stronger in late trading, which is providing a supportive sector backdrop for Morgan Stanley. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: A recent CICC Research note reportedly lifted Morgan Stanley’s price target to $200 from $175 while keeping an outperform view, signaling favorable sell-side sentiment. Article Title

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.