Bleakley Financial Group LLC Acquires 4,532 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 15.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 33,552 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,532 shares during the quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $5,956,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1,855.6% in the fourth quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 65.2% in the third quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. now owns 185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s own recent coverage points to solid first-quarter results, with strong client engagement plus strength in investment banking and trading, which has helped support the stock’s recent rise.
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent articles also highlight Morgan Stanley analyst actions that are constructive on other names, reinforcing the firm’s active role in sector coverage and keeping attention on its research franchise.
• Neutral Sentiment: New headlines include Morgan Stanley revising price targets on peers such as Royal Caribbean, Aflac, ADP, NextEra Energy, Park Hotels, and Equinor; these are more relevant to those stocks than to MS itself, but they keep Morgan Stanley in the spotlight as a key Wall Street opinion leader.
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also still weighing broader macro and sector sentiment, which can influence Morgan Stanley shares even without a direct earnings surprise or guidance change.
• Negative Sentiment: One notable overhang is regulatory scrutiny tied to Morgan Stanley’s German banking unit structure, where Senator Elizabeth Warren is urging regulators to reconsider an exemption. That could raise questions about capital and cross-border structuring, which is a modest valuation risk for a global bank.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider owned 365,802 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on MS. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Barclays boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, HSBC boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, April 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.95.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $201.81 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $318.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.22. 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’s 50-day moving average is $180.96 and its 200-day moving average is $176.62. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $126.35 and a 1-year high of $203.92.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $2.60 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued 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 was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 36.23%.

About Morgan Stanley

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.