Bank of New York Mellon Corp Lowers Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,658,918 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 74,900 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,376,422,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 645.8% during the second quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Compass Financial Services Inc acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $32,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 91.9% in the third 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. Finally, RMG Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley named Amy Oldenburg head of Digital Asset Strategy as the bank pushes into crypto — including recent crypto‑ETF filings and a planned wallet — signaling a move to capture fee revenue and client flows in digital assets. Morgan Stanley appoints new head of digital asset strategy
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley closed its acquisition of private‑share platform EquityZen, strengthening its private‑markets distribution and wealth-management product offering — a potential long‑term source of recurring fees and client retention. Morgan Stanley Closes Acquisition of EquityZen
• Positive Sentiment: Research lift for space/“orbital economy” from institutional desks (including Morgan Stanley coverage) is drawing retail + institutional interest into space‑tech stocks — a thematic driver that can boost M&A, underwriting and trading activity for the bank. Space Stock Boom: Why Retail and Wall Street Are Aligning (MS)
• Positive Sentiment: Coverage & model recognition: market commentary that RBC and others view MS’s multi‑engine business/model favorably supports sentiment that MS’s franchise strategy is working. Morgan Stanley’s (MS) Multi-Engine Model Impresses RBC
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro context — Morgan Stanley economists are featured in Fed coverage noting a likely pause in policy; a stable short‑term rate path helps banks’ near‑term net interest income visibility but keeps longer‑term rate risk in play. Fed expected to keep rates unchanged as Chair Powell pivots back to economics
• Neutral Sentiment: Minor corporate housekeeping: filings show Morgan Stanley ceased being a substantial shareholder in certain small resource names — routine portfolio adjustments with limited impact on MS fundamentals. Morgan Stanley Ceases to Be Substantial Shareholder in West African Resources

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 30,330 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.62, for a total transaction of $5,569,194.60. Following the sale, the insider owned 280,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,501,921.22. This trade represents a 9.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.55, for a total value of $3,691,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 127,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,598,777.60. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 196,223 shares of company stock worth $34,150,220 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $182.71 on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $94.33 and a fifty-two week high of $192.68. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $177.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $161.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The stock has a market cap of $290.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20.

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, 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 16.92%. The company had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.22 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted 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. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Zacks Research raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Dbs Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, HSBC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have issued a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $185.93.

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.