Boston Trust Walden Corp Has $34.35 Million Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Boston Trust Walden Corp lowered its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 208,721 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 7,632 shares during the period. Boston Trust Walden Corp’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $34,349,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Purpose Unlimited Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth $28,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MS. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $200.00 to $225.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Citigroup increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $194.00 to $220.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Finally, Evercore boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $210.50.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $214.27 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $337.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.23. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $135.26 and a 1-year high of $230.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $205.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $185.67.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $2.60 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 11.87 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend 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 is presently 36.23%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has initiated a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to reacquire up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total transaction of $2,120,758.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 169,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. The trade was a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley won conditional OCC approval for a national digital asset trust bank, giving it a regulated path to offer crypto custody and related services to institutional clients.
• Positive Sentiment: Recent commentary continues to highlight Morgan Stanley as a strong growth name, with Zacks pointing to the stock’s favorable growth profile and earnings-surprise history.
• Positive Sentiment: Another market note said Morgan Stanley paired its recent dividend increase with a $20 billion buyback, reinforcing capital-return strength and shareholder-friendly policies.
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles compared Morgan Stanley with JPMorgan and other big banks, but these were mostly valuation/style discussions rather than direct new fundamental catalysts.
• Neutral Sentiment: One analyst note mentioned Morgan Stanley lowered its price target on EQT Corp., which is unrelated to MS’s own operations and is unlikely to be a major driver for Morgan Stanley shares.

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.