Cornerstone Planning LLC Makes New Investment in Morgan Stanley $MS

Cornerstone Planning LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 20,302 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,618,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position 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 buying an additional 1,361,940 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 103,854,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,437,334,000 after buying an additional 539,544 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 27,321,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,343,523,000 after acquiring an additional 167,487 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,070,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,786,350,000 after acquiring an additional 534,708 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.1% during the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,018,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,441,505,000 after acquiring an additional 524,189 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total value of $9,744,068.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total value of $2,120,758.50. Following the transaction, the insider owned 169,403 shares in the company, 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. Insiders sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762 in the last quarter. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s investment management arm, together with Ridgeback Group, agreed to acquire Metra Living, a UK private rental business, for about £1.045 billion. The deal expands MS into residential rental assets and highlights its ability to deploy capital into new fee-generating businesses. Morgan Stanley Buys Into UK Rentals With £1.045b Metra Living Deal
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are also reacting to Morgan Stanley’s strong recent operating results: the firm posted Q1 EPS of $3.43, topping estimates, and revenue of $20.58 billion, also ahead of expectations, with year-over-year revenue growth of 16%. That supports the view that fundamentals remain solid after the stock’s big run. Morgan Stanley stock performance and earnings background
• Positive Sentiment: News that Morgan Stanley is part of the bank group working on possible OpenAI and Anthropic IPOs adds another potential catalyst, since high-profile tech listings could boost advisory and capital markets fees if they move forward. OpenAI, Anthropic IPOs Spark Battle Between Goldman And Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Several commentary pieces also frame MS as a long-term momentum name and note that the stock has been trading near its highs, which may be attracting trend-following buyers rather than pointing to a single new catalyst. Why Morgan Stanley is a Top Momentum Stock for the Long-Term

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MS. CICC Research increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Wolfe Research decreased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $206.35.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $223.69 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $352.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $199.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $182.78. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $130.90 and a one year high of $230.47.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The company had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.60 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.9 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 36.23%.

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.