Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Acquires 21,151 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Crossmark Global raised its Morgan Stanley stake by 10.8% in Q3, buying 21,151 shares to hold 217,000 shares worth about $34.49 million.
• Company insiders have been net sellers recently — including Andrew M. Saperstein and Michael A. Pizzi — with 129,191 shares sold (~$23.74 million) over the last quarter and insiders now owning just 0.19% of the stock.
• Morgan Stanley beat earnings (Q: $2.68 EPS vs. $2.28 est., revenue $17.90B vs. $17.69B) and carries a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $185.93.

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 10.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 217,000 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 21,151 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.'s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $34,494,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Brighton Jones LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,607,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185 shares in the last quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 12.0% in the 2nd quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 3,540 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $499,000 after buying an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 119.2% during the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 958 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $135,000 after purchasing an additional 521 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 23.2% during the 2nd quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 16,155 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,276,000 after acquiring an additional 3,045 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Barn Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at $219,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MS. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $157.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their target price on Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $195.00 in a research note on Friday, January 16th. HSBC reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Wednesday, January 7th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $185.93.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 30,330 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.62, for a total transaction of $5,569,194.60. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 280,481 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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 available at this link. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 20,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.55, for a total transaction of $3,691,000.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 127,872 shares in the company, valued at $23,598,777.60. This trade represents a 13.53% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold 129,191 shares of company stock worth $23,736,506 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company's stock.

More Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley filed amended registration for spot crypto ETFs and named Coinbase and BNY Mellon as custodians — a concrete step into ETF products that could generate new AUM and fee revenue if approved by the SEC. Morgan Stanley taps Coinbase and BNY for Bitcoin ETF custody
• Positive Sentiment: Firm-level research and public messaging (including bullish market notes) position Morgan Stanley to benefit from ongoing AI and market rotations — supports investment-banking deal flow and wealth-management client activity over time. Morgan Stanley Maintains Bullish US Stock Outlook Despite Iran Conflict
• Neutral Sentiment: Comments and takeaways from the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom conference are raising sector-level interest (Google CFO and other tech commentary) — useful for sentiment and MS’s research/relationships, but not an immediate earnings catalyst. These Are the Key Future Growth Drivers that Google’s CFO Just Highlighted
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley will cut roughly 3% of its global workforce (~2,500 jobs) across investment banking, trading and wealth-management lines — cost-saving but a signal of margin pressure and potential near-term severance/one-time charges and execution risk. That news is likely weighing on sentiment for risk assets tied to fee growth. Morgan Stanley to cut about 3% of workforce across key divisions

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $167.59 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $266.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.41, a P/E/G ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $179.02 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $167.62. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $94.33 and a 1-year high of $192.68.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th were issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is currently 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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