Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Purchased by Employees Retirement System of Texas

Key Points

• Employees Retirement System of Texas increased its Morgan Stanley stake by 15.6% in the fourth quarter, buying 65,100 more shares and bringing its holdings to 482,500 shares worth about $85.7 million.
• Morgan Stanley’s latest quarterly results were strong, with EPS of $3.43 beating estimates and revenue rising 16% year over year to $20.58 billion, helped by solid client activity, investment banking, and trading.
• Analysts remain mostly constructive but cautious: the stock carries a Moderate Buy consensus with an average target price of $205.95, while several insiders have sold shares in recent months.

Employees Retirement System of Texas boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 15.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 482,500 shares of the financial services provider's stock after purchasing an additional 65,100 shares during the quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $85,658,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Expressive Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter worth $326,000. TrustBank acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth about $259,000. Flputnam Investment Management Co. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 126.3% in the fourth quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co. now owns 176,282 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $31,295,000 after buying an additional 98,384 shares during the last quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC. increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 151.1% in the fourth quarter. Integrity Alliance LLC. now owns 8,413 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,494,000 after buying an additional 5,063 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arvest Bank Trust Division acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $219,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a "sector perform" rating and issued a $207.00 price target on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, April 16th. BNP Paribas Exane boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, April 24th. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Rothschild & Co Redburn boosted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $171.00 to $183.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Finally, Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $205.95.

Morgan Stanley News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s own recent coverage points to solid first-quarter results, with strong client engagement plus strength in investment banking and trading, which has helped support the stock’s recent rise.
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent articles also highlight Morgan Stanley analyst actions that are constructive on other names, reinforcing the firm’s active role in sector coverage and keeping attention on its research franchise.
• Neutral Sentiment: New headlines include Morgan Stanley revising price targets on peers such as Royal Caribbean, Aflac, ADP, NextEra Energy, Park Hotels, and Equinor; these are more relevant to those stocks than to MS itself, but they keep Morgan Stanley in the spotlight as a key Wall Street opinion leader.
• Neutral Sentiment: Investors are also still weighing broader macro and sector sentiment, which can influence Morgan Stanley shares even without a direct earnings surprise or guidance change.
• Negative Sentiment: One notable overhang is regulatory scrutiny tied to Morgan Stanley’s German banking unit structure, where Senator Elizabeth Warren is urging regulators to reconsider an exemption. That could raise questions about capital and cross-border structuring, which is a modest valuation risk for a global bank.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total value of $2,120,758.50. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 169,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. This represents a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762. 0.17% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $201.81 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $318.31 billion, a PE ratio of 18.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.22. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $126.35 and a 1-year high of $203.92. The business's fifty day moving average price is $180.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $176.62.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous 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. On average, research 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 was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.0%. 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.

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