Arsenal Capital Advisors LLC Makes New $814,000 Investment in Morgan Stanley $MS

Arsenal Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 4,586 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $814,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MS. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,736,648,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,253,554,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361,940 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2,332.9% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,406,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $249,710,000 after acquiring an additional 1,348,683 shares during the period. Junto Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $170,037,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 40.2% in the 3rd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,933,604 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $466,326,000 after acquiring an additional 841,263 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley was named a lead underwriter for Anthropic’s IPO, reinforcing its position in major capital-markets mandates. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Land Anthropic IPO
• Positive Sentiment: The firm also expanded its wealth-management/crypto offering through a referral arrangement with Galaxy Digital, which could support longer-term client engagement and product breadth. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and Galaxy Digital Announce Referral Capability for In-Kind Creation of Spot Crypto ETP Shares
• Positive Sentiment: Management continues to see strong opportunities in selected financials names, including a recent positive stance on peers such as UnitedHealth and other coverage names, underscoring active analyst engagement across the franchise. UnitedHealth Positioned As AI Leader: Analyst
• Neutral Sentiment: Media attention around Morgan Stanley’s bullish SpaceX revenue outlook and related IPO coverage keeps the firm in the spotlight, but this is more of a longer-dated franchise story than an immediate earnings driver. Market Chatter: Morgan Stanley Projects SpaceX’s Revenue Reaching $3.4 Trillion in 2040

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on MS shares. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Erste Group Bank raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.95.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total value of $2,120,758.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. This trade represents a 6.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total value of $2,779,935.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,224,370.48. This trade represents a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last quarter, insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 2.7%

Shares of MS opened at $212.44 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $188.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $179.05. 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 52-week low of $128.81 and a 52-week high of $219.16. The company has a market cap of $335.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.24, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 firm had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.60 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 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.