Wesbanco Bank Inc. Sells 8,751 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Wesbanco Bank Inc. decreased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.5% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 149,756 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,751 shares during the period. Wesbanco Bank Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $23,805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Midwest Trust Co raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 18.3% in the third quarter. Midwest Trust Co now owns 162,699 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,863,000 after acquiring an additional 25,217 shares in the last quarter. Rockland Trust Co. purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $11,214,000. First National Trust Co grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 0.9% in the third quarter. First National Trust Co now owns 48,705 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,742,000 after purchasing an additional 436 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 157,575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,048,000 after buying an additional 5,876 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gallagher Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the third quarter. Gallagher Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,037 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,626,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s Q4 results and the sectorwide rebound in trading and deal activity are supporting investor confidence — MS reported a Q4 earnings beat and revenue growth (quarterly EPS and revenue topped expectations), which underpins the stock’s gain today.
• Positive Sentiment: MS research/coverage is driving flows into niche sectors (notably bitcoin miners and some AI-related names); several miners and tech stocks rallied after Morgan Stanley initiated/upgraded coverage, which helps overall market sentiment for the firm as a research leader. Two Bitcoin Miners Rise On Morgan Stanley Coverage, AI Potential
• Neutral Sentiment: Market writeups continue to list MS among the investment‑banking leaders benefiting from solid Q4 results and stronger trading/deal activity, which supports a constructive narrative but is already priced into large-cap bank multiples. 3 Must-Buy Investment Bank Behemoths After Solid Q4 Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Ongoing analyst activity from MS (revisions and coverage changes across names like Duolingo and Cardinal Health) highlights the firm’s influential research flow — supportive for MS’s fee and research positioning but not an immediate earnings driver for MS itself. Morgan Stanley Cuts Duolingo PT to $245
• Negative Sentiment: Evercore/other outlets trimmed their stance on Morgan Stanley (cut to Hold), creating some short‑term headwind and reminding investors there are near‑term execution/valuation concerns despite robust results. Morgan Stanley Cut to Hold at Evercore

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MS. Citigroup boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Dbs Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. HSBC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $185.93.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 21,555 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total value of $3,966,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 171,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,464,920. The trade was a 11.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 15,838 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.77, for a total transaction of $2,942,225.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 135,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,135,424.08. This trade represents a 10.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 129,191 shares of company stock worth $23,736,506 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $182.32 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $289.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.45 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $180.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $164.42.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $2.22 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company 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 dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 39.18%.

Morgan Stanley 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.