Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC Reduces Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC decreased its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 25.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 91,022 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 30,664 shares during the quarter. Grantham Mayo Van Otterloo & Co. LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $14,469,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MS. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,607,000 after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares in the last quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 81.8% during the 2nd quarter. Atlantic Union Bankshares Corp now owns 5,360 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $755,000 after purchasing an additional 2,412 shares in the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 12.1% during the 2nd quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 44,102 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $6,212,000 after buying an additional 4,771 shares during the last quarter. Pekin Hardy Strauss Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth approximately $230,000. Finally, Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.5% in the second quarter. Bryn Mawr Trust Advisors LLC now owns 2,229 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Charles A. Smith sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.08, for a total transaction of $1,547,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 119,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,690,826.24. This represents a 6.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 32,968 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.61, for a total value of $6,020,286.48. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 357,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,254,222.62. This represents a 8.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 129,191 shares of company stock valued at $23,736,506. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Friday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $157.00 to $162.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $202.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $185.93.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.5%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $160.15 on Monday. 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 firm has a market cap of $254.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $178.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $168.02. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $94.33 and a fifty-two week high of $192.68.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued 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 company had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.22 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.18%.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley filed an updated S?1 / SEC amendment advancing its planned spot Bitcoin ETF (naming Coinbase custody and BNY Mellon roles). That materially increases the firm’s potential fee pool (trading, custody, securities lending) if approved — a strategic growth lever beyond traditional banking. Morgan Stanley Files Updated SEC Amendment for Spot Bitcoin ETF Launch
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley provided financing (initial $500M, expandable to $1B) to Core Scientific for data center/AI infrastructure, demonstrating growth in corporate lending and structured finance opportunities tied to AI/crypto infrastructure. That can add fee and interest income if credit performance holds. Core Scientific secures up to $1B credit from Morgan Stanley for data centers
• Neutral Sentiment: Public commentary from Morgan Stanley events (tech/AI conferences) keeps the firm visible as an advisor/market?maker in tech and AI financing; useful for long?term franchise positioning but not an immediate earnings surprise. Morgan Stanley’s top tech banker: It’s ‘wartime, not peacetime’ for software
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley announced cuts of roughly 2,500 roles (~3% of workforce) across divisions. Markets often react negatively to broad layoffs because they signal restructuring risk, potential disruption to revenue growth and near?term execution uncertainty even if they imply future cost savings. Morgan Stanley Sheds 2,500 Employees in Companywide Layoffs
• Negative Sentiment: Investor flow appears to favor trimming MS exposure amid the headlines; analysts and market commentators are re?assessing near?term margins and execution risk despite record revenues in 2025 — producing downward pressure on the share price today. Morgan Stanley Cuts 3% Workforce Despite Record Revenues in 2025

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.