Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Chevy Chase Trust trimmed its Morgan Stanley stake by 4.9% in Q3, selling 32,352 shares and now holding 625,045 shares worth about $99.36 million.
• Morgan Stanley capped redemptions at its North Haven private‑credit fund after roughly 10.9% of investors requested withdrawals, honoring a 5% repurchase cap — a move that prompted investor concern, a multi‑percent MS selloff and wider private‑credit contagion in the sector.
• MS recently beat quarterly EPS and revenue estimates, pays a $1.00 quarterly dividend (2.6% yield), and has a consensus analyst rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $187.14.

Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 625,045 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 32,352 shares during the quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $99,357,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in MS. Brighton Jones LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,607,000 after buying an additional 1,185 shares in the last quarter. Burling Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter worth about $568,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 25.9% in the second quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 9,996 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,408,000 after acquiring an additional 2,058 shares in the last quarter. CFO4Life Group LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth approximately $230,000. Finally, Foundations Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 15.0% during the second quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC now owns 264,872 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $37,310,000 after acquiring an additional 34,524 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered Morgan Stanley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, March 9th. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. The Goldman Sachs Group reaffirmed a "neutral" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Finally, Wolfe Research reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $211.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, January 7th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $187.14.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Selected as one of the Wall Street banks involved in a large Pentagon/defense financing initiative — a potential source of advisory fees and franchise work. Pentagon taps Morgan Stanley for defense initiative
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s research/public commentary on AI and macro trends keeps the firm visible to institutional clients and supports its wealth & investment‑management franchise positioning. That can help offset short‑term trading volatility. Morgan Stanley: AI Revolution Set to Disrupt Jobs and Energy Infrastructure
• Neutral Sentiment: Firm commentary on monetary policy (warning that rate cuts are unlikely soon) is driving market context rather than company-specific flows — it influences investor expectations for bank earnings broadly. Don’t Expect Interest Rate Cuts Anytime Soon, Says Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley trimmed a voting stake in Siemens Energy — a portfolio/positioning adjustment that is informational but not material to core operating results. Morgan Stanley Trims Siemens Energy Voting Stake
• Negative Sentiment: The primary near‑term driver: Morgan Stanley capped redemptions at its North Haven private‑income/private‑credit fund after investors requested ~10.9% in redemptions; the fund honored a 5% quarterly repurchase cap. That gating triggered investor concern about private‑credit liquidity and valuation transparency and was the proximate cause of a multi‑percent selloff in MS and other alternative‑asset managers. Morgan Stanley restricts redemptions at private credit fund
• Negative Sentiment: Private‑credit contagion and gating at other managers (Cliffwater, BlackRock coverage) amplified sector risk — investors rotated out of financials and alternative‑asset exposure on worries about defaults, liquidity and mark‑to‑model valuations. Morgan Stanley and Cliffwater limit private credit withdrawals (FT)
• Negative Sentiment: Negative sentiment was reinforced on social channels and media coverage, which likely exacerbated intraday selling pressure and short‑term volatility even though underlying wealth & advisory metrics remain more stable. Wall Street’s Own Stock Is Getting Hammered on Reddit

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 32,968 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.61, for a total value of $6,020,286.48. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 357,342 shares in the company, valued at approximately $65,254,222.62. This trade represents a 8.45% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.55, for a total value of $3,691,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 127,872 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $23,598,777.60. The trade was a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last three months, insiders sold 129,191 shares of company stock worth $23,736,506. Insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS opened at $154.84 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $176.11 and a 200-day moving average price of $168.26. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $94.33 and a fifty-two week high of $192.68. The stock has a market capitalization of $245.87 billion, a PE ratio of 15.17, a PEG ratio of 1.24 and a beta of 1.20.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $17.90 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.69 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.09% and a return on equity of 16.78%. Morgan Stanley's revenue was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $2.22 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.

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