AlphaQuest LLC Has $4.70 Million Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

AlphaQuest LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 395.4% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 29,568 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 23,599 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley makes up about 0.3% of AlphaQuest LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 17th largest position. AlphaQuest LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,700,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 97.4% during the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 22,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,644,000 after acquiring an additional 11,311 shares during the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 3.8% during the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 581,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $92,407,000 after purchasing an additional 21,458 shares during the period. Calamos Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 12.0% during the third quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 87,236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $13,867,000 after purchasing an additional 9,345 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 45.3% in the third quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 30,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,905,000 after purchasing an additional 9,619 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at about $5,417,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 30,330 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.62, for a total value of $5,569,194.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 280,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,501,921.22. The trade was a 9.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 21,555 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $3,966,120.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 171,005 shares in the company, valued at $31,464,920. This represents a 11.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 96,223 shares of company stock valued at $17,716,220 over the last three months. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s research is getting attention — analysts reiterated bullish views on Nvidia and published notes saying the NVDA story is “getting stronger,” which reinforces MS’s high-profile research franchise and fee-generating advisory/flow business. ‘It’s Getting Stronger,’ Says Morgan Stanley About Nvidia Stock
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley reported a strong quarter in mid-January (EPS and revenue beat), which supports its fundamentals and underpins the stock despite today’s weakness.
• Neutral Sentiment: MS economists and strategists are active in the press — Michael Gapen and others are framing Fed/real‑rate expectations and signaling the timing of future cuts could shift; this positions MS as a market voice but is informational rather than an immediate stock driver. Jerome Powell says economy has ‘clearly improved’…
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley research has flagged sector-level shifts from interest-rate trends (spending moving toward goods vs. services); useful for clients and positioning but not an immediate binary for MS stock. Morgan Stanley Expects Interest Rate Trends to Shift Spending
• Negative Sentiment: Broad market / big-tech weakness is the biggest near-term drag: ETFs and large caps (MSFT, NVDA, AMZN, etc.) have suffered sizable moves today, which usually depresss trading revenue, wealth-management flows and investor sentiment for MS. VTI is down 1.4% today, on PLTR stock price movement
• Negative Sentiment: Bond‑market “disconnects” noted by a Morgan Stanley exec and reported in the press are creating episodic volatility and liquidity frictions — a headwind for trading and fixed‑income desks, which can pressure broker‑dealer earnings and thus the stock. A Morgan Stanley exec says chaotic headlines are creating disconnects in the bond market

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of MS stock opened at $182.23 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $289.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.47 and a beta of 1.20. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $94.33 and a 1 year high of $192.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $178.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $162.16.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.69 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.92% and a net margin of 14.09%.The company’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.22 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Wolfe Research reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $211.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $185.93.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

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.