Nixon Peabody Trust Co. Has $17.34 Million Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Nixon Peabody Trust Co. trimmed its Morgan Stanley stake by 5.7% in the first quarter, but still held 105,390 shares worth about $17.34 million as of its latest filing.
• Morgan Stanley recently beat earnings expectations, reporting $3.43 EPS on $20.58 billion in revenue, while quarterly revenue rose 16% year over year.
• The company is returning cash to shareholders through a $1.00 quarterly dividend and a newly authorized $20 billion share repurchase plan, which could cover up to 5.6% of shares outstanding.

Nixon Peabody Trust Co. cut its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 5.7% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 105,390 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 6,318 shares during the quarter. Morgan Stanley makes up about 1.4% of Nixon Peabody Trust Co.'s portfolio, making the stock its 18th largest position. Nixon Peabody Trust Co.'s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $17,344,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of MS. Brighton Jones LLC grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.2% in 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 during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 69.0% in the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 8,964 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,263,000 after buying an additional 3,661 shares in the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 90.9% during the 2nd quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC now owns 16,148 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $2,378,000 after buying an additional 7,688 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main now owns 263,575 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $37,127,000 after buying an additional 15,623 shares during the period. Finally, Jupiter Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 7.8% in the second quarter. Jupiter Wealth Management LLC now owns 52,825 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $7,805,000 after acquiring an additional 3,807 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on MS shares. Citizens Jmp reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Oppenheimer cut Morgan Stanley from a "market perform" rating to an "underperform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $179.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, June 12th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $210.50.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $214.27 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $135.26 and a 52 week high of $230.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $205.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $185.67. The company has a market cap 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.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. The company had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.Morgan Stanley's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.60 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 11.87 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.9%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.23%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

More 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 Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 $32,313,622.25. This represents a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares in the company, valued at $69,224,370.48. The trade was a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762 in the last quarter. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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