Income Insurance Ltd Buys Shares of 3,589 Morgan Stanley $MS

Income Insurance Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 3,589 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $637,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.2% during the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,607,000 after buying an additional 1,185 shares in the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 69.0% during the second quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 8,964 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,263,000 after buying an additional 3,661 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 90.9% during the second quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,148 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,378,000 after buying an additional 7,688 shares in the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.3% during the second quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 263,575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,127,000 after buying an additional 15,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 7.8% during the second quarter. Jupiter Wealth Management LLC now owns 52,825 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $7,805,000 after buying an additional 3,807 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS opened at $192.99 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $172.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $173.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.77. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $121.46 and a 1 year high of $194.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $304.40 billion, a PE ratio of 17.48, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly 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. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The firm had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.60 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 36.23%.

More Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: DBS Bank raised its price target on Morgan Stanley to $220 from $185, signaling more upside potential. DBS Bank price target update
• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group Bank lifted FY2027 earnings estimates for Morgan Stanley, while keeping a Buy rating, reinforcing confidence in longer-term earnings power.
• Positive Sentiment: UBS also increased its Morgan Stanley price target to $214 from $196, adding to the wave of bullish revisions. UBS price target update

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MS. Bank of America lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $196.00 to $214.00 in a report on Wednesday. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. BNP Paribas Exane lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 24th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $173.00 to $179.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $206.26.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $53,209,159.78. The trade was a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares in the company, 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. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley 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.