Conning Inc. Acquires 34,395 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Conning Inc. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 18.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 225,677 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 34,395 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley makes up approximately 1.2% of Conning Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Conning Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $37,140,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,736,648,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 29.1% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,917,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,648,354,000 after purchasing an additional 3,364,080 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 142.4% in the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,122,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $511,723,000 after buying an additional 1,833,844 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 1,361,940 shares during the period. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew 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 buying an additional 1,348,683 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners announced it entered exclusivity to acquire a majority stake in Nicollin Environnement, a French environmental services company. The move highlights MS’s private-markets and infrastructure investing capabilities beyond traditional banking. Morgan Stanley Infrastructure Partners Enters Into Agreement to Acquire Majority Stake in Nicollin Environnement
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst and media coverage continued to frame Morgan Stanley as a beneficiary of strong banking results heading into Q2 earnings season, with bank earnings generally expected to be solid and supporting sentiment for large financial stocks like MS. Bank Earnings Look Strong Ahead of Q2: ETFs in Focus
• Neutral Sentiment: Separate commentary said Morgan Stanley warned that the AI chip rally may be losing momentum, but this is more a macro/sector view than a direct catalyst for MS shares. Morgan Stanley warns AI chip rally may be running out of steam

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total transaction of $2,779,935.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. This represents a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have issued reports on MS shares. HSBC boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Rothschild & Co Redburn lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $195.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, June 25th. Citigroup boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $194.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $207.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, April 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $215.20.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS opened at $222.21 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $208.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $187.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of $350.48 billion, a PE ratio of 20.13, a P/E/G ratio of 1.68 and a beta of 1.23. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $135.26 and a 1 year high of $230.47.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 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 business had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.60 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 11.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 36.23%.

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.