Align Financial LLC Invests $20.45 Million in Morgan Stanley $MS

Align Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 115,217 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $20,454,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 29,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,281,000 after purchasing an additional 8,512 shares during the period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 103.1% during the third quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 12,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,019,000 after buying an additional 6,448 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 679.8% during the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 42,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,527,000 after buying an additional 36,963 shares in the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 34.4% during the third quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 50,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,950,000 after buying an additional 12,804 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 3.8% during the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,712,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,543,831,000 after buying an additional 354,871 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Evercore lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $171.00 to $183.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Dbs Bank lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Twelve investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.35.

Trending Headlines about Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: MS was highlighted in a Zacks note as a “top growth stock for the long term,” reinforcing the market’s growth narrative around Morgan Stanley. Why Morgan Stanley (MS) is a Top Growth Stock for the Long-Term
• Positive Sentiment: Large U.S. banks were broadly strong as investors waited for the Fed meeting, and Morgan Stanley was specifically mentioned among the bank stocks hitting records. Big Bank Stocks Hit Records Ahead of Fed Meeting
• Neutral Sentiment: Recent performance data show Morgan Stanley has already been benefiting from strong earnings, with the latest quarter beating expectations on both EPS and revenue, which supports the stock’s momentum but is not a fresh catalyst.
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst views remain constructive overall, including Morgan Stanley’s own overweight rating and several higher price targets across the Street, which helps underpin valuation expectations.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 2.0%

NYSE MS opened at $225.32 on Thursday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $197.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $182.11. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $129.93 and a 52 week high of $228.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. The stock has a market cap of $355.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.41, a PEG ratio of 1.66 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The business had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 11.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 36.23%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total transaction of $2,120,758.50. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was 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 approximately $53,209,159.78. The trade was a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last three months, 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 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.