Capital World Investors Sells 5,048,925 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Capital World Investors cut its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 89.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 608,950 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 5,048,925 shares during the quarter. Capital World Investors’ holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $108,107,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 8,512 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 103.1% in 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 during the last quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 52.6% in the third quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 113,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,043,000 after buying an additional 39,104 shares during the last quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.9% in the third quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 157,575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,048,000 after buying an additional 5,876 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 679.8% in 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 during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $173.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Dbs Bank lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Citigroup lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Wolfe Research lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Bank of America lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $205.95.

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 completion of 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider owned 169,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

More Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley remains constructive on several financial and growth names, including recent bullish calls on companies like Cloudflare and American Airlines, reinforcing the bank’s active role in shaping market expectations. Morgan Stanley Lifts PT on Cloudflare (NET)
• Positive Sentiment: The company said it is “wide awake” to acquisition opportunities, which can support optimism that Morgan Stanley could pursue strategic M&A if conditions improve. Morgan Stanley ‘wide awake’ to acquisition opportunities, CEO says
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks upgraded Morgan Stanley (MS) to a Buy-equivalent ranking, citing improving earnings prospects. Morgan Stanley (MS) Upgraded to Buy: Here’s Why
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley presented at the U.S. Financials Conference 2026, which keeps investor attention on the bank’s capital markets and wealth-management strategy rather than on a single earnings event. Morgan Stanley (MS) Presents at US Financials Conference 2026 Transcript
• Negative Sentiment: Broader market risk-off trading and fading rate-cut expectations are pressuring financials and other rate-sensitive names, which can weigh on Morgan Stanley even without a bad company headline.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $210.21 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $190.83 and a 200 day moving average price of $179.89. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. The firm has a market cap of $331.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.04, a PEG ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.23. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $128.81 and a 12 month high of $219.16.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $2.60 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 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.