First Bank & Trust Sells 3,588 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

First Bank & Trust lowered its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 40.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,251 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,588 shares during the period. First Bank & Trust’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $932,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 65.2% in the 3rd quarter. Greykasell Wealth Strategies Inc. now owns 185 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 91.9% in the 3rd quarter. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC now owns 213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $34,000 after purchasing an additional 102 shares during the period. Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Howard Hughes Medical Institute bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

More Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Strong reported results and recent beats reinforce MS’s core revenue and trading franchise — record 2025 revenue and a Q4 EPS beat underpin the firm’s fundamentals and fee-generation outlook. MS Beats Market Upswing
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is in position for high‑profile investment‑banking mandates (SpaceX IPO chatter), which could support future IB fees and client pipeline if those deals proceed. SpaceX IPO Prediction Markets
• Positive Sentiment: Ongoing expansion into digital assets and tokenization (ETF filings, platform hires) supports new revenue lines — a strategic growth angle investors may value over the medium term. Morgan Stanley on Crypto Move
• Neutral Sentiment: Firm research is feeding market flow — Morgan Stanley’s AlphaWise smartphone data (positive for AAPL) and other thematic notes keep MS visible as a go‑to research house, which is revenue‑supportive but not an immediate stock catalyst. AlphaWise iPhone Survey
• Neutral Sentiment: Thought leadership/webinars (AI + software, AlphaSense partnership) help reputation and institutional engagement; useful for longer‑term positioning but not a direct short‑term earnings driver. AI vs Software Webinar
• Neutral Sentiment: Routine analyst activity — MS naming Intuit a top pick and other coverage moves show normal sell‑side reweighting that can influence sector flow but is company‑agnostic for MS’s own share price. Intuit Top Pick
• Negative Sentiment: Third‑party downgrade: Zacks lowered MS from “strong‑buy” to “hold” this morning — analyst tone and any rating drift can remove marginal buyers and pressure the stock. Zacks Downgrade/TickerReport
• Negative Sentiment: Sentiment disconnect: coverage noted that record earnings did not prevent a sharp pullback in shares (retail/social sentiment and short‑term positioning weighed), showing earnings beats alone aren’t calming speculative outflows. Record Earnings but Shares Fell
• Negative Sentiment: Macro risk: Morgan Stanley warned about a hawkish Fed outlook and higher‑for‑longer rate risk — a backdrop that can hurt risk appetite, raise funding costs and add volatility to MS trading and wealth‑management flows. MS Fed Rate Warning

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group lowered shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Barclays lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $173.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $187.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 20,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider owned 127,872 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $23,598,777.60. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 21,555 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total value of $3,966,120.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 171,005 shares in the company, valued at $31,464,920. The trade was a 11.19% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 129,191 shares of company stock valued at $23,736,506 in the last 90 days. 0.19% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS opened at $165.63 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $172.27 and a two-hundred day moving average of $168.90. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $94.33 and a twelve month high of $192.68. The company has a market cap of $263.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.33 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.22 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th were paid 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 2.4%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 39.18%.

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.