Sit Investment Associates Inc. Invests $3.78 Million in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Sit Investment Associates Inc. disclosed a new stake in Morgan Stanley, buying 21,305 shares valued at about $3.78 million in the fourth quarter.
• Morgan Stanley reported strong quarterly results, with EPS of $3.43 and revenue of $20.58 billion, both ahead of estimates and up 16% from a year earlier.
• Analysts remain moderately bullish on the stock, with a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $206.35, while the shares have recently traded near their 52-week high.

Sit Investment Associates Inc. purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 21,305 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,782,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 40.1% during the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 29,744 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $5,281,000 after purchasing an additional 8,512 shares during the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 103.1% in the third quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 12,700 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $2,019,000 after purchasing an additional 6,448 shares during the last quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 679.8% in the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 42,400 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $7,527,000 after buying an additional 36,963 shares in the last quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 34.4% during the 3rd quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 50,012 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $7,950,000 after buying an additional 12,804 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,712,071 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,543,831,000 after buying an additional 354,871 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s investment management arm, together with Ridgeback Group, agreed to acquire Metra Living, a UK private rental business, for about £1.045 billion. The deal expands MS into residential rental assets and highlights its ability to deploy capital into new fee-generating businesses. Morgan Stanley Buys Into UK Rentals With £1.045b Metra Living Deal
• Positive Sentiment: Investors are also reacting to Morgan Stanley’s strong recent operating results: the firm posted Q1 EPS of $3.43, topping estimates, and revenue of $20.58 billion, also ahead of expectations, with year-over-year revenue growth of 16%. That supports the view that fundamentals remain solid after the stock’s big run. Morgan Stanley stock performance and earnings background
• Positive Sentiment: News that Morgan Stanley is part of the bank group working on possible OpenAI and Anthropic IPOs adds another potential catalyst, since high-profile tech listings could boost advisory and capital markets fees if they move forward. OpenAI, Anthropic IPOs Spark Battle Between Goldman And Morgan Stanley
• Neutral Sentiment: Several commentary pieces also frame MS as a long-term momentum name and note that the stock has been trading near its highs, which may be attracting trend-following buyers rather than pointing to a single new catalyst. Why Morgan Stanley is a Top Momentum Stock for the Long-Term

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE:MS opened at $223.69 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $199.10 and a 200-day simple moving average of $182.78. 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 cap of $352.82 billion, a PE ratio of 20.26, a P/E/G ratio of 1.70 and a beta of 1.23. Morgan Stanley has a 1-year low of $130.90 and a 1-year high of $230.47.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.60 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.9 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were paid a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is currently 36.23%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on MS shares. Citigroup increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $179.00 to $187.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, June 12th. CICC Research increased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Finally, Evercore upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $206.35.

Morgan Stanley 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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