Coastline Trust Co Increases Stock Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Coastline Trust Co boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 26.0% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 20,766 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,280 shares during the quarter. Coastline Trust Co’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,687,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Brighton Jones LLC boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,064 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,136,000 after purchasing an additional 260 shares in the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 12,080 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,702,000 after purchasing an additional 384 shares during the period. Stonebrook Private Inc. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth about $232,000. Finally, Alteri Wealth LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 3.8% during the second quarter. Alteri Wealth LLC now owns 2,277 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $321,000 after purchasing an additional 83 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $158.60 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $173.86 and a two-hundred day moving average of $168.35. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $94.33 and a 12 month high of $192.68. The firm has a market cap of $251.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.28 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.40. The business had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.69 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.78% and a net margin of 14.09%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.22 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.18%.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Wealth management scale — Morgan Stanley’s wealth arm reported IRA assets under management topping $1 trillion, a milestone that supports recurring fee revenue and client stickiness for MS’s highest‑margin business. MS Wealth Management IRA AUM Crosses $1T
• Positive Sentiment: Crypto product pipeline — Morgan Stanley Investment Management has advanced an S‑1 for a spot Bitcoin ETF (ticker MSBT on NYSE Arca). If approved, the trust could generate new fee income and position MS competitively in digital‑asset product distribution. Morgan Stanley Bitcoin ETF Filing Advances
• Positive Sentiment: Research/trading momentum — Morgan Stanley’s research desk has been active, including bullish calls around AI/semiconductor names (e.g., Nvidia). Strong research and trading flow can support investment‑banking and markets revenues in volatile tape. Morgan Stanley Sounds the Bullish Drum on Nvidia
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro/update: Morgan Stanley revised its Fed timing — the firm now expects rate cuts later (September/December), which changes outlook for rates‑sensitive businesses but is a macro view rather than an immediate earnings shock. Morgan Stanley pushes back rate cuts to September and December
• Neutral Sentiment: Technical/positioning note — commentary that MS shows rising relative strength but remains shy of a key benchmark is informational for traders assessing momentum, not a company fundamental. Morgan Stanley shows rising relative strength
• Negative Sentiment: Private‑credit liquidity scare — Morgan Stanley limited redemptions from its North Haven Private Income Fund after a surge in withdrawal requests and flagged rising default risks tied to AI disruption in parts of private credit. That raises short‑term liquidity and reputational risk and could pressure earnings or require provisioning. Morgan Stanley Tests Private Credit Liquidity
• Negative Sentiment: Market‑risk warnings: Morgan Stanley flagged a possible 15%–20% downside for Asian equities if energy risks persist. Those calls reflect the firm’s risk views but also signal potential mark‑to‑market pressure across asset inventories and client portfolios. Morgan Stanley flags 15%–20% downside for Asia stocks

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 15,838 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $185.77, for a total transaction of $2,942,225.26. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 135,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,135,424.08. The trade was a 10.48% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider directly owned 127,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $23,598,777.60. The trade was a 13.53% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 129,191 shares of company stock worth $23,736,506 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $195.00 in a report on Friday, January 16th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. Barclays increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $202.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research restated an “outperform” rating and set a $211.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $187.14.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.