Strs Ohio Sells 23,308 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Strs Ohio lowered its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 384,955 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 23,308 shares during the period. Strs Ohio’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $61,192,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 645.8% during the 2nd quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth $28,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 91.9% in the 3rd 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 during the period. Compass Financial Services Inc acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Finally, First PREMIER Bank grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 57.1% during the 3rd quarter. First PREMIER Bank now owns 245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $39,000 after buying an additional 89 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE MS opened at $183.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $290.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.92, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $176.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $160.79. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $94.33 and a 12 month high of $192.68.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.69 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.92% and a net margin of 14.09%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.22 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $202.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $157.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $207.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Friday, January 16th. HSBC restated a “hold” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $185.93.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.55, for a total value of $3,691,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 127,872 shares in the company, valued at $23,598,777.60. The trade was a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 15,838 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 135,304 shares in the company, valued at $25,135,424.08. This represents a 10.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 196,223 shares of company stock worth $34,150,220 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley was selected as one of the lead banks for the anticipated SpaceX IPO — a high?visibility mandate that can generate significant fees and bolster investment-banking sentiment for MS. Elon Musk’s SpaceX lines up 4 banks for blockbuster IPO
• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly banking context: the “Big Six” U.S. banks delivered strong bottom?line Q4 results and Morgan Stanley was cited as an exception to the broader post?earnings bank selloff — supporting investor confidence in MS’s earnings trajectory and ROE. Bank Stocks: Another Quarter of Double-Digit S&P 500 Earnings Growth?
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley research flagged geopolitical and policy risks (U.S. policy and Trump-era trade/debt positions) that could influence dollar dominance and macro flows — useful for positioning but not an immediate stock catalyst. Trump policies put dollar dominance under fresh global scrutiny
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider stock sales at Morgan Stanley were disclosed this week — multiple senior executives filed Form 4s selling sizable blocks (examples include Michael Pizzi, Andrew Saperstein, Eric Grossman, Sharon Yeshaya and others). Concentrated insider selling can increase near?term selling pressure and raise investor caution. Insider sale SEC filing (Michael A. Pizzi)

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.