New York State Common Retirement Fund Acquires 57,591 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.8% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,570,255 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 57,591 shares during the quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund owned 0.10% of Morgan Stanley worth $249,608,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 645.8% during the second quarter. Princeton Global Asset Management LLC now owns 179 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Compass Financial Services Inc bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $32,000. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 91.9% during the 3rd quarter. Family Legacy Financial Solutions LLC now owns 213 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 102 shares during the last quarter. Finally, RMG Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley completed its acquisition of EquityZen, expanding its private‑shares distribution and strengthening Wealth Management’s ability to offer private‑market exposure to clients — a revenue and client‑retention play for the firm. Morgan Stanley Closes Acquisition of EquityZen
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley named Amy Oldenburg head of digital asset strategy, signaling the bank’s push into crypto ETFs, custody and wallet products — a strategic expansion that could boost fee income if adoption continues. Morgan Stanley appoints digital asset head Amy Oldenburg
• Positive Sentiment: Active research coverage and analyst activity (examples: Morgan Stanley maintaining/upgrading major technology and utility coverage) support trading & research franchise revenue and help drive institutional deal flow. That ongoing analyst footprint can be a steady revenue contributor for the bank. Nvidia: Buy Rated (Morgan Stanley analyst)
• Neutral Sentiment: Visibility / investor relations: Morgan Stanley executives (Wealth head Jed Finn) are speaking at industry conferences and the firm is publicly showcasing its private‑market and wealth initiatives — useful for long‑term positioning but not an immediate earnings catalyst. Jed Finn to Speak at the UBS Financial Services Conference
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley research continues to shape macro and sector calls (e.g., notes on interest‑rate driven spending shifts and space/industrial themes). These publications support the bank’s markets and advisory businesses but can produce mixed market reactions. Morgan Stanley expects interest rate trends to shift spending
• Negative Sentiment: Near‑term uncertainty and costs: the push into digital assets (crypto ETFs, wallet) plus integrating EquityZen may increase expenses and regulatory/compliance risk in the near term — investors sometimes mark down banks while they absorb integration and build crypto infrastructure. Morgan Stanley appoints digital asset head Amy Oldenburg

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MS has been the topic of a number of research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $207.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Friday, January 16th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $177.00 to $189.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, January 5th. Jefferies Financial Group boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a “neutral” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $185.93.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 30,330 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.62, for a total value of $5,569,194.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 280,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,501,921.22. This represents a 9.76% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 21,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider directly owned 171,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,464,920. This represents a 11.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 196,223 shares of company stock worth $34,150,220. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE MS opened at $182.35 on Thursday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.33 and a 52 week high of $192.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The company has a market capitalization of $289.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 1.20. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $178.23 and its 200-day moving average price is $162.02.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.40. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.92% and a net margin of 14.09%.The company had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.69 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.22 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is 39.18%.

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.