Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Bought by Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.

Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.5% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 301,458 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 12,880 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley makes up about 0.7% of Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 26th largest holding. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $53,518,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 65.2% during the 3rd quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. now owns 185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley received a notable analyst upgrade to Zacks’ “Strong Buy,” which can attract momentum-driven flows and validates recent earnings strength and positioning in wealth and investment banking. Zacks Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley Investment Management led an $875M senior debt financing for Bridgepointe Technologies — evidence MS’s private-credit and asset-management businesses are winning sizable direct-lending mandates that generate fee income and diversify revenue. Bridgepointe Financing
• Positive Sentiment: MS acted as a lead underwriter on the upsized Avalyn Pharma IPO — a sign the firm remains active in ECM and capital-markets underwriting, which supports deal fees and investment-banking pipeline visibility. Avalyn IPO Pricing
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley research is visible across sector calls (naming Targa Resources a top midstream pick and publishing sector notes on software, utilities, pharma, etc.). That amplifies MS’s franchise value but is indirect to near-term trading unless tied to fee wins. Targa Top Pick
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley executives signaled openness to the idea of banks holding Bitcoin on their balance sheets if regulatory and capital-treatment hurdles change — a strategic position that keeps MS relevant in digital-asset conversations but carries regulatory complexity. Investors view this as a longer?term optionality item rather than immediate earnings impact. Bitcoin on Balance Sheet
• Negative Sentiment: A new lawsuit alleges Morgan Stanley enabled improper third-party web tracking and data-sharing; it’s seeking class-action status. Legal and privacy suits can create headline risk, potential regulatory scrutiny and defense costs — an overhang on sentiment while unresolved. Lawsuit on Data Collection

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 1.9%

MS opened at $190.64 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $171.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $172.75. The company has a market cap of $301.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.40 and a beta of 1.19. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $114.67 and a 1 year high of $194.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.89%. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.60 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th will be paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 36.23%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the subject of several research reports. Citizens Jmp restated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. UBS Group raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $196.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $201.89.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total transaction 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. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total value of $9,744,068.12. Following the transaction, the insider owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762 over the last quarter. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.