3,362 Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS Bought by Cache Advisors LLC

Cache Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 3,362 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $597,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 27,321,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,343,523,000 after buying an additional 167,487 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,494,146 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,893,590,000 after purchasing an additional 448,960 shares in the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 6.1% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,260,650 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,267,847,000 after purchasing an additional 822,120 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,712,071 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,543,831,000 after purchasing an additional 354,871 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 9,083,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,443,926,000 after purchasing an additional 249,023 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MS shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $173.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $207.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Friday, January 16th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Friday, January 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $172.00 to $186.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 23rd. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $189.94.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley Investment Management launched the Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (MSBT), a spot Bitcoin ETP on NYSE Arca priced with an ultra-low 0.14% fee — the first bank‑affiliated spot Bitcoin product from a major U.S. bank. The fund’s low fee and MS’s advisor network could drive meaningful, durable inflows and incremental fee revenue. Businesswire: MSBT launch
• Positive Sentiment: The MSBT launch gains distribution advantages: Morgan Stanley’s ~16,000 financial advisors and ~$6.2T in client assets create a “captive” channel that analysts and industry commentators say could translate to advisor-directed inflows from day one — a structural advantage versus independent issuers. CoinDesk video/coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Street support: UBS upgraded Morgan Stanley to Buy this morning, citing wealth‑management strength and profitability — the upgrade adds momentum to the stock amid broader bank‑sector volatility. Positive analyst notes can buoy sentiment into earnings. CNBC: UBS upgrade
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is also moving in private credit (planning new funds/interval offerings) to capitalize on market dislocation — this expands fee opportunities but carries execution and fundraising timing risk. Benzinga: private credit fund
• Neutral Sentiment: Upcoming earnings (mid‑April) and some estimate revisions are in focus — incremental analyst EPS upgrades (Erste) and commentary about momentum set expectations that investors will check next results for the impact of product launches and wealth‑management flows.
• Negative Sentiment: Offsetting analyst moves: a few firms trimmed price targets or issued cautious notes (Evercore, BMO, Daiwa) — these mixed research actions create some short‑term target dispersion and could cap upside if macro/headline risk rises. AmericanBankingNews: Evercore/BMO notes

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 4.6%

Shares of MS stock opened at $176.17 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $279.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.25, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $168.46 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $169.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $97.89 and a fifty-two week high of $192.68.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.40. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.78% and a net margin of 14.09%.The firm had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.22 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.3%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 39.18%.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 30,330 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.62, for a total value of $5,569,194.60. Following the transaction, the insider owned 280,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $51,501,921.22. The trade was a 9.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 20,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.55, for a total value of $3,691,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 127,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,598,777.60. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 129,191 shares of company stock valued at $23,736,506 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

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.