Aviva PLC Has $187.54 Million Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Aviva PLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 5.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,056,402 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 56,541 shares during the period. Aviva PLC owned 0.07% of Morgan Stanley worth $187,543,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $28,000. WFA of San Diego LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth $28,000. Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Finally, Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1,855.6% during the fourth quarter. Mowery & Schoenfeld Wealth Management LLC now owns 176 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE MS opened at $212.74 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $335.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.27, a PEG ratio of 1.55 and a beta of 1.23. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $192.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $180.61. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $128.81 and a twelve month high of $219.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52.

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

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, April 24th. Wolfe Research cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Citigroup upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $173.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.95.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,224,370.48. This represents a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at $32,313,622.25. This represents a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

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.