Whalen Wealth Management Inc. Invests $704,000 in Morgan Stanley $MS

Whalen Wealth Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 3,964 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $704,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Central Bank & Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,767 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $314,000 after purchasing an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 3,579 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $635,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Balboa Wealth Partners increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Balboa Wealth Partners now owns 3,181 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $565,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the period. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.1% during the 3rd quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,843 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $929,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Earned Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.7% during the 4th quarter. Earned Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,357 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $418,000 after buying an additional 61 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 15,838 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.77, for a total value of $2,942,225.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 135,304 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 21,555 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 171,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $31,464,920. The trade was a 11.19% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 129,191 shares of company stock valued at $23,736,506. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MS has been the topic of several recent research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. HSBC lowered their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $153.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $207.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and thirteen have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $185.73.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $166.04 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $263.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.26, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $169.18 and its 200-day simple moving average is $169.24. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $94.33 and a 12 month high of $192.68.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th were given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 39.18%.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley signaled a near‑term launch for a bitcoin ETF after filing Amendment No. 4 — a potential positive for future asset‑management AUM and fee revenue if the product attracts institutional flows. Morgan Stanley Signals Bitcoin ETF Near Launch
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst/research coverage highlights Morgan Stanley’s strong earnings‑surprise history and argues MS is positioned to beat again — this underpins investor confidence in MS’s core wealth & investment banking franchise and its recurring advisory/trading revenue. Will Morgan Stanley (MS) Beat Estimates Again?
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley research published an “earnings‑surprise composite” and a list of stocks poised for surprises — a reminder MS’s research product can drive client engagement and trading flow but is not an immediate earnings event for the bank itself. These 10 stocks are poised for earnings surprises in April: Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley released its monthly sector‑rotation study — useful for gauging client retail flows and sentiment across sectors but unlikely to move MS’s stock on its own. E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley Releases Monthly Sector Rotation Study
• Negative Sentiment: Market commentary highlights recent soft share‑price performance and a modest pullback over the past quarter — valuation and short‑term momentum concerns could limit upside near term. A Look At Morgan Stanley (MS) Valuation After Recent Soft Share Price Performance
• Negative Sentiment: Recent MS research activity (downgrades/target trims on other companies, e.g., Bank of America, Lufthansa coverage) signals a more cautious macro/sector stance from the bank’s analysts — this can reduce risk appetite in the short term and slightly dampen trading commissions tied to volatile sectors. Morgan Stanley Trims BAC Target to $61

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.