Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Acquired by Wealthfront Advisers LLC

Wealthfront Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 157,575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,876 shares during the quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $25,048,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Gallagher Capital Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% in the third quarter. Gallagher Capital Advisors LLC now owns 10,037 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,626,000 after acquiring an additional 68 shares during the last quarter. Means Investment CO. Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 43.0% during the third quarter. Means Investment CO. Inc. now owns 3,289 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $523,000 after purchasing an additional 989 shares during the period. Arista Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 40.0% in the 3rd quarter. Arista Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,113,000 after purchasing an additional 2,000 shares during the last quarter. AlTi Global Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. AlTi Global Inc. now owns 13,494 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,145,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Profund Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 7.7% during the 3rd quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 16,608 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,640,000 after buying an additional 1,192 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s Q4 results and the sectorwide rebound in trading and deal activity are supporting investor confidence — MS reported a Q4 earnings beat and revenue growth (quarterly EPS and revenue topped expectations), which underpins the stock’s gain today.
• Positive Sentiment: MS research/coverage is driving flows into niche sectors (notably bitcoin miners and some AI-related names); several miners and tech stocks rallied after Morgan Stanley initiated/upgraded coverage, which helps overall market sentiment for the firm as a research leader. Two Bitcoin Miners Rise On Morgan Stanley Coverage, AI Potential
• Neutral Sentiment: Market writeups continue to list MS among the investment‑banking leaders benefiting from solid Q4 results and stronger trading/deal activity, which supports a constructive narrative but is already priced into large-cap bank multiples. 3 Must-Buy Investment Bank Behemoths After Solid Q4 Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Ongoing analyst activity from MS (revisions and coverage changes across names like Duolingo and Cardinal Health) highlights the firm’s influential research flow — supportive for MS’s fee and research positioning but not an immediate earnings driver for MS itself. Morgan Stanley Cuts Duolingo PT to $245
• Negative Sentiment: Evercore/other outlets trimmed their stance on Morgan Stanley (cut to Hold), creating some short‑term headwind and reminding investors there are near‑term execution/valuation concerns despite robust results. Morgan Stanley Cut to Hold at Evercore

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MS. Dbs Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $207.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $185.93.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $182.32 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $180.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $164.42. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $94.33 and a 52-week high of $192.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $289.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.86, a PEG ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.20.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.69 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.92% and a net margin of 14.09%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.22 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.18%.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 30,330 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $183.62, for a total transaction of $5,569,194.60. Following the transaction, the insider owned 280,481 shares in the company, valued at $51,501,921.22. This trade represents a 9.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 20,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.55, for a total transaction of $3,691,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 127,872 shares in the company, valued at $23,598,777.60. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold 129,191 shares of company stock worth $23,736,506 in the last 90 days. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.