SCS Capital Management LLC Sells 6,062 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

SCS Capital Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 158,942 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,062 shares during the quarter. SCS Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $28,217,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,253,554,000 after buying an additional 1,361,940 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 27,321,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,343,523,000 after purchasing an additional 167,487 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,070,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,786,350,000 after purchasing an additional 534,708 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,018,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,441,505,000 after purchasing an additional 524,189 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $2,736,648,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 sale, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,313,622.25. This trade represents a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 sale, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,209,159.78. This trade represents a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 over the last three months. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently commented on MS. HSBC lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. CICC Research lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 19th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Zacks Research lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 27th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.95.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley was highlighted in a report saying it disclosed exposure to Bitcoin, XRP, and Solana, which may reinforce the bank’s relevance in digital-asset markets and draw investor interest. Morgan Stanley reveals surprising asset exposure
• Positive Sentiment: The stock was described as outperforming the Nasdaq over the past year, suggesting momentum remains constructive and analysts are still fairly upbeat about MS. Is Morgan Stanley Stock Outperforming the Nasdaq?
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s recent activity was largely about stock calls on other companies, including Dell, Microsoft, NetApp, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Stanley Black & Decker, and Consolidated Edison. These updates can reflect the firm’s market influence, but they are not direct catalysts for MS shares. Morgan Stanley flags unexpected Dell stock update after earnings

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.1%

MS stock opened at $207.74 on Monday. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $126.35 and a twelve month high of $208.08. The company has a market cap of $327.67 billion, a PE ratio of 18.82, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.56 and a beta of 1.23. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $183.78 and its 200 day simple moving average is $177.48. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The business had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.60 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.