Carmel Capital Partners LLC Cuts Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Carmel Capital Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 28.2% during the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,580 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 2,973 shares during the quarter. Carmel Capital Partners LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,205,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 97.4% during the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 22,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,644,000 after acquiring an additional 11,311 shares in the last quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.8% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 581,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $92,407,000 after acquiring an additional 21,458 shares in the last quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 12.0% during the 3rd quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 87,236 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $13,867,000 after purchasing an additional 9,345 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 45.3% in the 3rd quarter. Sowell Financial Services LLC now owns 30,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,905,000 after purchasing an additional 9,619 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 8.2% in the 2nd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 6,252 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $881,000 after purchasing an additional 473 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 21,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $3,966,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 171,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,464,920. This trade represents a 11.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 30,330 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.62, for a total transaction of $5,569,194.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 280,481 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $51,501,921.22. This trade represents a 9.76% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 196,223 shares of company stock worth $34,150,220 in the last ninety days. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley was selected as one of the lead banks for the anticipated SpaceX IPO — a high‑visibility mandate that can generate significant fees and bolster investment-banking sentiment for MS. Elon Musk’s SpaceX lines up 4 banks for blockbuster IPO
• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly banking context: the “Big Six” U.S. banks delivered strong bottom‑line Q4 results and Morgan Stanley was cited as an exception to the broader post‑earnings bank selloff — supporting investor confidence in MS’s earnings trajectory and ROE. Bank Stocks: Another Quarter of Double-Digit S&P 500 Earnings Growth?
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley research flagged geopolitical and policy risks (U.S. policy and Trump-era trade/debt positions) that could influence dollar dominance and macro flows — useful for positioning but not an immediate stock catalyst. Trump policies put dollar dominance under fresh global scrutiny
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider stock sales at Morgan Stanley were disclosed this week — multiple senior executives filed Form 4s selling sizable blocks (examples include Michael Pizzi, Andrew Saperstein, Eric Grossman, Sharon Yeshaya and others). Concentrated insider selling can increase near‑term selling pressure and raise investor caution. Insider sale SEC filing (Michael A. Pizzi)

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $183.00 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $94.33 and a twelve month high of $192.68. 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 company has a market capitalization of $290.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.92, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $176.63 and its 200 day moving average is $160.79.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th will be paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 39.18%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $202.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Citigroup raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Dbs Bank raised Morgan Stanley to a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $177.00 to $189.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $185.93.

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.