ABN Amro Investment Solutions Buys 57,521 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

ABN Amro Investment Solutions lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 50.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 171,025 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 57,521 shares during the quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions’ holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $30,362,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Olistico Wealth LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 65.2% in the 3rd quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. now owns 185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nvest Wealth Strategies Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 169,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. This represents a 6.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $69,224,370.48. This represents a 3.86% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the subject of a number of research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Dbs Bank upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a report on Thursday, May 7th. HSBC upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Argus upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have issued a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $205.95.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is helping lead a wave of renewed AI-dealmaking optimism, with its global technology M&A head saying AI-related transactions are likely to broaden beyond chips into power, data centers, and other infrastructure. This supports the bank’s investment-banking growth narrative. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: OpenAI is reportedly preparing an IPO filing and working with Morgan Stanley as one of its bankers. That would be a high-profile mandate and could add to fees and visibility for MS if the deal moves forward. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley also raised its price target on NextEra Energy after the Dominion deal, reinforcing that the firm remains active and constructive across equity research coverage. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Financial stocks were broadly stronger in late trading, which is providing a supportive sector backdrop for Morgan Stanley. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: A recent CICC Research note reportedly lifted Morgan Stanley’s price target to $200 from $175 while keeping an outperform view, signaling favorable sell-side sentiment. Article Title

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 4.3%

NYSE MS opened at $197.70 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $123.88 and a fifty-two week high of $198.07. 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 stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $177.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $175.58. The stock has a market cap of $311.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The business had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.60 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.23%.

Morgan Stanley 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.