Allstate Corp Grows Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Allstate Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 120.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 90,913 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 49,598 shares during the quarter. Allstate Corp’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $16,140,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Summitry LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 20.0% during the 4th quarter. Summitry LLC now owns 1,567 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $278,000 after acquiring an additional 261 shares during the period. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,014 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $713,000 after buying an additional 254 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,018,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,441,505,000 after buying an additional 524,189 shares during the period. Choate Investment Advisors boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.4% in the 4th quarter. Choate Investment Advisors now owns 19,670 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,492,000 after buying an additional 1,185 shares during the period. Finally, CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.5% in the 4th quarter. CYBER HORNET ETFs LLC now owns 3,543 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $629,000 after buying an additional 184 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the subject of several recent research reports. Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $171.00 to $183.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. Daiwa Securities Group lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 5th. Dbs Bank lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.95.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total value of $2,779,935.60. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,224,370.48. This trade represents a 3.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Zacks highlighted Morgan Stanley’s strong first-quarter 2026 performance, with gains driven by solid client activity and healthy investment banking and trading results, which supports the stock’s bullish momentum.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent market coverage also emphasized that Morgan Stanley has outperformed the broader market and much of the financial sector so far this year, reinforcing investor confidence in the stock.
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s analysts issued several ratings actions on other companies, including an upgrade on Franklin Resources and cuts to targets on Edison International, Polaris, Southern Company, and others. These show the firm remains active and influential, but they are only indirect catalysts for MS. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Commentary from Morgan Stanley portfolio manager Andrew Slimmon about the market not being in a dot-com bubble adds visibility for the firm, but it does not materially change the near-term outlook for MS stock. Article Title

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $201.18 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $123.88 and a fifty-two week high of $203.09. The firm has a market capitalization of $317.32 billion, a PE ratio of 18.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.22. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $180.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $176.36.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.60 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.23%.

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.