3,675 Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS Purchased by Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC

Jackson Thornton Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 3,675 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $653,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 40.1% during 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 in the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 34.4% in the 3rd quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 50,012 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,950,000 after buying an additional 12,804 shares in the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 679.8% in the 4th quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 42,400 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,527,000 after buying an additional 36,963 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 7.5% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 965,323 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $171,866,000 after buying an additional 67,613 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.4% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,411,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,337,066,000 after acquiring an additional 274,934 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

More Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: UBS raised its price target on Morgan Stanley (MS) to $255 from $214 and reiterated a buy rating, suggesting additional upside from current levels. UBS Group Boosts Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Price Target to $255.00
• Positive Sentiment: Bank of America also lifted its target on Morgan Stanley (MS) to $250 and kept a buy rating, reinforcing the bullish analyst tone ahead of earnings. Morgan Stanley had its price target raised by Bank of America Corporation from $225.00 to $250.00.
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are also focusing on Morgan Stanley’s Q2 earnings report due July 15, with expectations for solid revenue and EPS, while recent commentary has highlighted strength in Wall Street trading activity and capital markets as a potential tailwind for bank results.
• Positive Sentiment: Broader financial-sector optimism is helping sentiment, as analysts have been pointing to strong second-quarter earnings prospects for major U.S. banks and continued strength in trading and advisory activity.
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s own market commentary has also been active, including calls that investors may rotate toward hyperscalers and AI-linked names; that’s more of a broader strategy backdrop than a direct driver for MS itself. Trading surge, helped by SpaceX IPO, seen lifting Wall St banks’ second-quarter earnings

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $211.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $179.00 to $187.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $225.00 to $250.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wolfe Research lowered their price target 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, Erste Group Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $215.20.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS opened at $222.12 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $206.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $186.38. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $135.26 and a fifty-two week high of $230.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $350.35 billion, a PE ratio of 20.12, a PEG ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued 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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The company had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $2.60 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 11.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.8%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 36.23%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has initiated a stock buyback program on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total value of $2,120,758.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,209,159.78. The trade was a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762 over the last quarter. 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.