Boston Trust Walden Corp Lowers Stake in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Boston Trust Walden Corp trimmed its Morgan Stanley stake by 3.5% in the first quarter, selling 7,632 shares and ending with 208,721 shares valued at about $34.3 million.
• Morgan Stanley reported strong quarterly results, posting $3.43 EPS versus the $3.02 estimate and revenue of $20.58 billion, while also lifting revenue 16% year over year.
• The company remains focused on shareholder returns through a newly authorized $20 billion share buyback and a recently paid $1.00 quarterly dividend, equal to a 1.9% annualized yield.

Boston Trust Walden Corp decreased its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm 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 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MS. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 12.3% during the 4th quarter. CBIZ Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 502 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $89,000 after acquiring an additional 55 shares in the last quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Powers Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,443 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Fielder Capital Group LLC now owns 4,216 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $748,000 after buying an additional 57 shares during the period. Central Bank & Trust Co. increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 3.4% in the fourth quarter. Central Bank & Trust Co. now owns 1,767 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $314,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the period. Finally, Howard Financial Services LTD. lifted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Howard Financial Services LTD. now owns 3,579 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $635,000 after buying an additional 58 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total value of $2,779,935.60. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $69,224,370.48. This trade represents a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of Morgan Stanley 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 of the company's stock, valued at $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Dbs Bank lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 7th. Zacks Research cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Wolfe Research dropped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $210.50.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.2%

MS opened at $214.27 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $337.96 billion, a PE ratio of 19.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.63 and a beta of 1.23. The business has a 50-day moving average of $205.33 and a 200-day moving average of $185.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $135.26 and a fifty-two week high of $230.47.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The company had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $2.60 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 11.87 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has authorized a stock repurchase program on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

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

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