DJE Kapital AG Increases Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

DJE Kapital AG grew its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 55.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 513,855 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 182,784 shares during the quarter. Morgan Stanley comprises about 2.5% of DJE Kapital AG’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest position. DJE Kapital AG’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $91,871,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 13.1% in the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 44,550 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,909,000 after acquiring an additional 5,175 shares during the period. Great Lakes Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC now owns 3,610 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $641,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Connecticut Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,712 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $837,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Aviva PLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Aviva PLC now owns 1,056,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $187,543,000 after purchasing an additional 56,541 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mosley Wealth Management bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $1,888,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 2.9%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $212.74 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $128.81 and a 1 year high of $219.16. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $192.77 and its two-hundred day moving average is $180.61. The stock has a market cap of $335.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.27, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The company had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $2.60 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.23%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total transaction of $2,779,935.60. Following the transaction, the insider owned 365,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,224,370.48. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is being highlighted as a likely beneficiary of a coming wave of AI-related IPOs, with reports saying the bank could earn significant underwriting, trading, and advisory fees from deals such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX. Barrons AI IPO article
• Positive Sentiment: Another report said Morgan Stanley’s leadership is “wide awake” to M&A opportunities, with wealth management and asset management cited as areas for potential inorganic growth, which supports optimism around longer-term expansion. Morgan Stanley M&A opportunities article
• Positive Sentiment: The bank also announced it is expanding AI access on its workplace wealth platform, allowing clients’ AI agents to interact with stock-plan tools, a move that could deepen client relationships and improve the digital wealth-management offering. Morgan Stanley AI access article
• Neutral Sentiment: Additional commentary on Morgan Stanley’s role in upcoming IPO activity and broader market momentum has kept the stock in focus, but these items are more thematic than directly company-specific. Morgan Stanley IPO realities article

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $207.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, BNP Paribas Exane upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.95.

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.