Ramirez Asset Management Inc. Increases Stock Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Ramirez Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 46.4% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 23,846 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,556 shares during the period. Ramirez Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $3,791,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 103.1% during the 3rd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 12,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,019,000 after purchasing an additional 6,448 shares during the period. Donaldson Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% during the 3rd quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 467,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $74,273,000 after purchasing an additional 9,056 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 97.4% in the 3rd quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 22,927 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,644,000 after purchasing an additional 11,311 shares during the period. A4 Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth about $855,000. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 581,325 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $92,407,000 after buying an additional 21,458 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore cut Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $202.00 to $210.00 and gave the company a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $157.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $185.93.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $160.15 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $178.20 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $167.69. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $94.33 and a twelve month high of $192.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $254.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.69, a P/E/G ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.20. 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 (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, 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 the consensus estimate of $17.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.22 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 32,968 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.61, for a total transaction of $6,020,286.48. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 357,342 shares in the company, valued at $65,254,222.62. The trade was a 8.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 30,330 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 approximately $51,501,921.22. This represents a 9.76% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold a total of 129,191 shares of company stock valued at $23,736,506 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley filed an updated S‑1 / SEC amendment advancing its planned spot Bitcoin ETF (naming Coinbase custody and BNY Mellon roles). That materially increases the firm’s potential fee pool (trading, custody, securities lending) if approved — a strategic growth lever beyond traditional banking. Morgan Stanley Files Updated SEC Amendment for Spot Bitcoin ETF Launch
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley provided financing (initial $500M, expandable to $1B) to Core Scientific for data center/AI infrastructure, demonstrating growth in corporate lending and structured finance opportunities tied to AI/crypto infrastructure. That can add fee and interest income if credit performance holds. Core Scientific secures up to $1B credit from Morgan Stanley for data centers
• Neutral Sentiment: Public commentary from Morgan Stanley events (tech/AI conferences) keeps the firm visible as an advisor/market‑maker in tech and AI financing; useful for long‑term franchise positioning but not an immediate earnings surprise. Morgan Stanley’s top tech banker: It’s ‘wartime, not peacetime’ for software
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley announced cuts of roughly 2,500 roles (~3% of workforce) across divisions. Markets often react negatively to broad layoffs because they signal restructuring risk, potential disruption to revenue growth and near‑term execution uncertainty even if they imply future cost savings. Morgan Stanley Sheds 2,500 Employees in Companywide Layoffs
• Negative Sentiment: Investor flow appears to favor trimming MS exposure amid the headlines; analysts and market commentators are re‑assessing near‑term margins and execution risk despite record revenues in 2025 — producing downward pressure on the share price today. Morgan Stanley Cuts 3% Workforce Despite Record Revenues in 2025

About Morgan Stanley

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.