Sowell Financial Services LLC Grows Stock Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Sowell Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 45.3% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,854 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,619 shares during the period. Sowell Financial Services LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $4,905,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth about $2,234,883,000. Kingstone Capital Partners Texas LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $343,236,000. Schroder Investment Management Group increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 23.4% during the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,357,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,318,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,776,544 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 319.7% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,092,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $294,727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,593,774 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 18.1% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,623,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,355,537,000 after purchasing an additional 1,476,372 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Dbs Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $183.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $184.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have given a Buy rating and seven 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 $174.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 31st. The shares were sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total value of $16,434,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 574,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $94,493,199.24. This represents a 14.82% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE MS opened at $181.98 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $94.33 and a fifty-two week high of $182.34. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $168.99 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $154.65. The stock has a market cap of $289.22 billion, a PE ratio of 18.66, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.73. The business had revenue of $17.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.40%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.88 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 31st were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 31st. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 41.03%.

Trending Headlines about Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Earnings beat and revenue growth. Morgan Stanley reported fiscal results that materially beat expectations (Q3 EPS $2.80 vs. $2.07 est.; revenue $17.98B vs. $16.42B), with revenue up ~18.5% year-over-year — supporting the stock’s strength through higher margins and fee income from markets and wealth management.
• Positive Sentiment: Research flow — Regeneron policy-risk update. Morgan Stanley’s equity research flagged policy risks for Regeneron (REGN) as receding, a sign that MS analysts are actively updating sector views; stronger, timely research can boost trading volumes and institutional client engagement. Morgan Stanley Sees Policy Risks Receding for Regeneron (REGN)
• Positive Sentiment: Upgrades/coverage — Bunge (BG) outlook. Morgan Stanley upgraded Bunge to Overweight and highlighted Viterra synergy upside, illustrating active coverage that can translate into underwriting/advisory opportunities and trading commissions when these coverage calls move markets. Morgan Stanley Highlights Viterra Synergy Upside in Bunge’s (BG) Outlook
• Neutral Sentiment: Asset-management repositioning — Rivian stake reduction. Morgan Stanley (as an institutional investor) trimmed its Rivian (RIVN) holding by ~3.6M shares (~30% of that position), a portfolio move that reflects MS Investment Management rebalancing; impact on MS revenue/AUM is likely modest but it signals active risk management. Rivian stock coverage
• Neutral Sentiment: Research presence across names. Morgan Stanley appears frequently as an initiating/updating analyst on a range of large-cap names (Comcast, Broadcom, Dell, etc.) — positive for fee and trading flow but not an immediate driver of MS equity moves unless tied to a major M&A or trading surge.
• Negative Sentiment: Leverage / liquidity metrics to monitor. The bank’s reported ratios show leverage and liquidity features investors watch: current ratio and quick ratio around 0.79 and a debt-to-equity near 3.27. While typical for large financial firms, these numbers underscore sensitivity to funding/interest-rate environments and are a potential risk if market stress rises.

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.