Comerica Bank Reduces Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Comerica Bank lowered its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 12.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 300,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 42,494 shares during the quarter. Comerica Bank’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $47,756,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Tepp RIA LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 9.0% in the 3rd quarter. Tepp RIA LLC now owns 2,109 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $335,000 after acquiring an additional 175 shares during the last quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Texas Capital Bank Wealth Management Services Inc now owns 69,017 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $10,971,000 after purchasing an additional 1,653 shares during the last quarter. United Financial Planning Group LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 3rd quarter valued at about $93,000. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 242.7% in the 3rd quarter. Newbridge Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 353 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $56,000 after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the period. Finally, Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 6.0% in the third quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 23,260 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,697,000 after purchasing an additional 1,317 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 21,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total value of $3,966,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 171,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,464,920. This represents a 11.19% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Charles A. Smith sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.08, for a total transaction of $1,547,680.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 119,128 shares in the company, valued at approximately $21,690,826.24. This represents a 6.66% decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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 over the last three months. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Selected as one of the Wall Street banks involved in a large Pentagon/defense financing initiative — a potential source of advisory fees and franchise work. Pentagon taps Morgan Stanley for defense initiative
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s research/public commentary on AI and macro trends keeps the firm visible to institutional clients and supports its wealth & investment‑management franchise positioning. That can help offset short‑term trading volatility. Morgan Stanley: AI Revolution Set to Disrupt Jobs and Energy Infrastructure
• Neutral Sentiment: Firm commentary on monetary policy (warning that rate cuts are unlikely soon) is driving market context rather than company-specific flows — it influences investor expectations for bank earnings broadly. Don’t Expect Interest Rate Cuts Anytime Soon, Says Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley trimmed a voting stake in Siemens Energy — a portfolio/positioning adjustment that is informational but not material to core operating results. Morgan Stanley Trims Siemens Energy Voting Stake
• Negative Sentiment: The primary near‑term driver: Morgan Stanley capped redemptions at its North Haven private‑income/private‑credit fund after investors requested ~10.9% in redemptions; the fund honored a 5% quarterly repurchase cap. That gating triggered investor concern about private‑credit liquidity and valuation transparency and was the proximate cause of a multi‑percent selloff in MS and other alternative‑asset managers. Morgan Stanley restricts redemptions at private credit fund
• Negative Sentiment: Private‑credit contagion and gating at other managers (Cliffwater, BlackRock coverage) amplified sector risk — investors rotated out of financials and alternative‑asset exposure on worries about defaults, liquidity and mark‑to‑model valuations. Morgan Stanley and Cliffwater limit private credit withdrawals (FT)
• Negative Sentiment: Negative sentiment was reinforced on social channels and media coverage, which likely exacerbated intraday selling pressure and short‑term volatility even though underlying wealth & advisory metrics remain more stable. Wall Street’s Own Stock Is Getting Hammered on Reddit

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MS shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $177.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, January 5th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $202.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock a “moderate buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Erste Group Bank restated a “hold” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $187.14.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $154.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $245.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.17, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.20. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $176.11 and a 200 day moving average price of $168.13. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $94.33 and a 52-week high of $192.68.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.69 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.78% and a net margin of 14.09%.Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.22 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.6%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 39.18%.

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.