Principal Financial Group Inc. Sells 498,498 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Principal Financial Group reduced its Morgan Stanley stake by 13.7%, selling 498,498 shares and leaving it with 3,149,329 shares valued at $559.1 million (about 0.20% ownership).
• Morgan Stanley beat the quarter with $3.43 EPS vs. $3.02 expected and $20.58 billion in revenue, and declared a $1.00 quarterly dividend ($4.00 annual, a 2.1% yield).
• Sell‑side sentiment is a consensus "Moderate Buy" with an average price target of $201.89 (1 Strong Buy, 11 Buy, 11 Hold) and several recent price‑target upgrades.

Principal Financial Group Inc. decreased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,149,329 shares of the financial services provider's stock after selling 498,498 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. owned 0.20% of Morgan Stanley worth $559,100,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Brighton Jones LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,607,000 after acquiring an additional 1,185 shares during the period. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 69.0% during the 2nd quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC now owns 8,964 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,263,000 after acquiring an additional 3,661 shares during the period. 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 acquiring an additional 7,688 shares during the period. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main grew its holdings 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 valued at $37,127,000 after buying an additional 15,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 7.8% during the 2nd quarter. Jupiter Wealth Management LLC now owns 52,825 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,805,000 after buying an additional 3,807 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on MS shares. UBS Group raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $195.00 to $196.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 7th. Argus increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Wolfe Research cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and eleven have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $201.89.

Morgan Stanley News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley was named a lead arranger on a roughly $13 billion financing for Meta’s planned El Paso data‑center, a large corporate financing that should generate sizable underwriting and advisory fees and signals continued dealflow in tech infrastructure. Meta taps Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan for El Paso data center deal
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley Investment Management launched a centralized Wealth Education Center for advisors — a distribution and client‑education tool that can help drive AUM retention and advisory flows over time. Morgan Stanley Investment Management Introduces Wealth Education Center
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley research remains active and visible (notes on tech, semiconductors and AI capex), which supports the firm’s reputation and potential trading/research revenue but is an indirect driver of stock moves. Morgan Stanley Lifts Targets on Semiconductor Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley commentary that strong tech earnings could offset geopolitical risk underscores its role in market strategy; this is more reputational than immediately earnings‑moving. Morgan Stanley Sees Tech Earnings Eclipsing Iran War for Stocks
• Negative Sentiment: Financial-sector weakness today is pressuring banks broadly; MS is being pulled lower with the group as investors trim exposure to rate and macro risk. Sector Update: Financial Stocks Decline in Afternoon Trading
• Negative Sentiment: Intraday trading shows below‑average volume and profit‑taking after recent gains; lower demand can amplify downward moves even when firm‑level headlines are positive. MS stock trading details

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total value of $9,744,068.12. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at $53,209,159.78. This trade represents a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was 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 of the company's stock, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. This represents a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762 over the last three months. 0.17% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.0%

MS stock opened at $188.22 on Tuesday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $171.52 and a 200 day moving average price of $172.99. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $117.21 and a fifty-two week high of $194.59. 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 firm has a market cap of $297.65 billion, a PE ratio of 17.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $20.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.89%. Morgan Stanley's revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.60 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, April 30th will be given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.1%. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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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