VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al Sells 222,400 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al lessened its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 34.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 432,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 222,400 shares during the quarter. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $76,693,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted 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 buying an additional 1,361,940 shares during the period. Junto Capital Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at approximately $170,037,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted 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 buying an additional 841,263 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 6.1% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 14,260,650 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,267,847,000 after buying an additional 822,120 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Investments LP boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 150.3% in the third quarter. Two Sigma Investments LP now owns 1,234,969 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $196,311,000 after buying an additional 741,651 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,224,370.48. This represents a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the sale, the insider directly 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 disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, March 9th. Citigroup upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective 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. Finally, Wolfe Research cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have given a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.26.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley raised its S&P 500 outlook sharply, saying the market can keep climbing even without Fed rate cuts; that has helped lift sentiment around the firm’s macro calls and market strategy franchise. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: The bank said the S&P 500 could reach 8,300 over the next 12 months, reinforcing optimism that Morgan Stanley’s strategists are seeing durable equity upside. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are also focusing on Morgan Stanley’s growing crypto push, including lower-fee digital-asset trading aimed at attracting retail users, which could support long-term platform growth if adoption builds. Article Title
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s spot Bitcoin ETF continues to draw inflows with no reported outflows in its first month, suggesting early traction in the bank’s crypto-linked product suite. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Several articles are simply renewed stock-forecast or “most searched” pieces about MS, which usually reflect investor interest rather than a new fundamental catalyst. Article Title
• Neutral Sentiment: Coverage also highlighted Morgan Stanley’s warnings on oil and inflation, but those calls are more about the macro backdrop than a direct change to Morgan Stanley’s own earnings outlook. Article Title

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE MS opened at $191.83 on Wednesday. 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 firm’s fifty day moving average price is $173.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $174.32. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $123.88 and a 1 year high of $194.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $302.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.38, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.44 and a beta of 1.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.60 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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

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.