Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd Has $814,000 Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd grew its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 193.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 4,587 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,022 shares during the period. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $814,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $2,736,648,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,253,554,000 after purchasing an additional 1,361,940 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2,332.9% in the fourth quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,406,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $249,710,000 after purchasing an additional 1,348,683 shares in the last quarter. Junto Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at about $170,037,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 40.2% in the third quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,933,604 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $466,326,000 after purchasing an additional 841,263 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MS. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $171.00 to $183.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Erste Group Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Daiwa Securities Group raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $205.95.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 2.7%

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $212.44 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $335.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.23. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $128.81 and a 1-year high of $219.16. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $188.81 and a 200 day simple moving average of $179.05. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. The business had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.60 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.9%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.23%.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley was named a lead underwriter for Anthropic’s IPO, reinforcing its position in major capital-markets mandates. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Land Anthropic IPO
• Positive Sentiment: The firm also expanded its wealth-management/crypto offering through a referral arrangement with Galaxy Digital, which could support longer-term client engagement and product breadth. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and Galaxy Digital Announce Referral Capability for In-Kind Creation of Spot Crypto ETP Shares
• Positive Sentiment: Management continues to see strong opportunities in selected financials names, including a recent positive stance on peers such as UnitedHealth and other coverage names, underscoring active analyst engagement across the franchise. UnitedHealth Positioned As AI Leader: Analyst
• Neutral Sentiment: Media attention around Morgan Stanley’s bullish SpaceX revenue outlook and related IPO coverage keeps the firm in the spotlight, but this is more of a longer-dated franchise story than an immediate earnings driver. Market Chatter: Morgan Stanley Projects SpaceX’s Revenue Reaching $3.4 Trillion in 2040

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total value of $9,744,068.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at $53,209,159.78. This trade represents a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total transaction of $2,779,935.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 365,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,224,370.48. This represents a 3.86% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762 over the last quarter. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.