Capital International Investors Decreases Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Capital International Investors lowered its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 24.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,544,097 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 6,777,117 shares during the quarter. Capital International Investors’ holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,647,545,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MS. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at $2,736,648,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,253,554,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361,940 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2,332.9% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,406,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $249,710,000 after acquiring an additional 1,348,683 shares during the period. Junto Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at $170,037,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 40.2% in the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,933,604 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $466,326,000 after acquiring an additional 841,263 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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 was named a lead underwriter for Anthropic’s IPO, reinforcing its position in major capital-markets mandates. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Land Anthropic IPO
• Positive Sentiment: The firm also expanded its wealth-management/crypto offering through a referral arrangement with Galaxy Digital, which could support longer-term client engagement and product breadth. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and Galaxy Digital Announce Referral Capability for In-Kind Creation of Spot Crypto ETP Shares
• Positive Sentiment: Management continues to see strong opportunities in selected financials names, including a recent positive stance on peers such as UnitedHealth and other coverage names, underscoring active analyst engagement across the franchise. UnitedHealth Positioned As AI Leader: Analyst
• Neutral Sentiment: Media attention around Morgan Stanley’s bullish SpaceX revenue outlook and related IPO coverage keeps the firm in the spotlight, but this is more of a longer-dated franchise story than an immediate earnings driver. Market Chatter: Morgan Stanley Projects SpaceX’s Revenue Reaching $3.4 Trillion in 2040

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,224,370.48. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,209,159.78. This trade represents a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently commented on MS. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $173.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.95.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 2.7%

NYSE:MS opened at $212.44 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $128.81 and a fifty-two week high of $219.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $335.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.24, a P/E/G ratio of 1.59 and a beta of 1.23. 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’s 50-day simple moving average is $188.81 and its 200-day simple moving average is $179.05.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $20.58 billion during 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%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $2.60 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders 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 1.9%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.