EHP Funds Inc. Invests $658,000 in Morgan Stanley $MS

EHP Funds Inc. purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 4,141 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $658,000. Morgan Stanley comprises about 0.6% of EHP Funds Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 29th largest position.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Angeles Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.1% during the third quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,843 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $929,000 after purchasing an additional 61 shares during the period. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.1% in the third quarter. Bedel Financial Consulting Inc. now owns 3,120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $496,000 after purchasing an additional 63 shares during the period. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the third quarter. Clear Creek Financial Management LLC now owns 2,616 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $416,000 after purchasing an additional 64 shares during the period. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the third quarter. Moss Adams Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 13,222 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,102,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bridgewater Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. Bridgewater Advisors Inc. now owns 6,278 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,025,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 20,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated 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 owned 127,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,598,777.60. The trade was a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 15,838 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $25,135,424.08. This trade represents a 10.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 129,191 shares of company stock worth $23,736,506. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on MS. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $177.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Evercore cut Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $202.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $195.00 in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.14.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.3%

NYSE:MS opened at $154.84 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $94.33 and a twelve month high of $192.68. The company has a market cap of $245.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.20. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $176.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $168.13.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.09% and a return on equity of 16.78%. The business had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.69 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.22 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th were given 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 2.6%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 39.18%.

Morgan Stanley News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Selected as one of the Wall Street banks involved in a large Pentagon/defense financing initiative — a potential source of advisory fees and franchise work. Pentagon taps Morgan Stanley for defense initiative
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s research/public commentary on AI and macro trends keeps the firm visible to institutional clients and supports its wealth & investment?management franchise positioning. That can help offset short?term trading volatility. Morgan Stanley: AI Revolution Set to Disrupt Jobs and Energy Infrastructure
• Neutral Sentiment: Firm commentary on monetary policy (warning that rate cuts are unlikely soon) is driving market context rather than company-specific flows — it influences investor expectations for bank earnings broadly. Don’t Expect Interest Rate Cuts Anytime Soon, Says Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley trimmed a voting stake in Siemens Energy — a portfolio/positioning adjustment that is informational but not material to core operating results. Morgan Stanley Trims Siemens Energy Voting Stake
• Negative Sentiment: The primary near?term driver: Morgan Stanley capped redemptions at its North Haven private?income/private?credit fund after investors requested ~10.9% in redemptions; the fund honored a 5% quarterly repurchase cap. That gating triggered investor concern about private?credit liquidity and valuation transparency and was the proximate cause of a multi?percent selloff in MS and other alternative?asset managers. Morgan Stanley restricts redemptions at private credit fund
• Negative Sentiment: Private?credit contagion and gating at other managers (Cliffwater, BlackRock coverage) amplified sector risk — investors rotated out of financials and alternative?asset exposure on worries about defaults, liquidity and mark?to?model valuations. Morgan Stanley and Cliffwater limit private credit withdrawals (FT)
• Negative Sentiment: Negative sentiment was reinforced on social channels and media coverage, which likely exacerbated intraday selling pressure and short?term volatility even though underlying wealth & advisory metrics remain more stable. Wall Street’s Own Stock Is Getting Hammered on Reddit

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.