Trivest Advisors Ltd Buys Shares of 96,700 Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Trivest Advisors Ltd initiated a new position in Morgan Stanley, buying 96,700 shares valued at about $17.2 million in the fourth quarter. The stake makes MS its 16th-largest holding and about 0.8% of its portfolio.
• Morgan Stanley’s latest quarterly results were solid, with earnings of $3.43 per share beating estimates and revenue rising 16% year over year to $20.58 billion. The firm also continued to attract attention from analysts, with a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $205.95.
• Insider activity has leaned toward selling, including notable transactions by Eric F. Grossman and Andrew M. Saperstein. Morgan Stanley also paid its quarterly dividend of $1.00 per share, equal to an annualized yield of about 1.9%.

Trivest Advisors Ltd bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 96,700 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $17,167,000. Morgan Stanley comprises approximately 0.8% of Trivest Advisors Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. PBU The Pension Fund of Early Childhood & Youth Educators acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,052,000. Arsenal Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $814,000. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 55,790 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $9,904,000 after buying an additional 748 shares during the last quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 5.0% in the fourth quarter. Lifestyle Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,942 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $345,000 after buying an additional 93 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 5.7% in the fourth quarter. Prestige Wealth Management Group LLC now owns 3,649 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $648,000 after buying an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have commented on MS shares. Zacks Research cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 27th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $218.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Rothschild & Co Redburn upped their target price 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. Wolfe Research decreased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Finally, Citigroup upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $205.95.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the 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 transaction, the insider directly 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 Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction of $9,744,068.12. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 over the last 90 days. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 2.7%

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $212.44 on Friday. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $188.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $179.05. The stock has a market cap of $335.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.23. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $128.81 and a fifty-two week high of $219.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.65% and a return on equity of 17.70%. The firm's revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.60 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley was named a lead underwriter for Anthropic’s IPO, reinforcing its position in major capital-markets mandates. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Land Anthropic IPO
• Positive Sentiment: The firm also expanded its wealth-management/crypto offering through a referral arrangement with Galaxy Digital, which could support longer-term client engagement and product breadth. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and Galaxy Digital Announce Referral Capability for In-Kind Creation of Spot Crypto ETP Shares
• Positive Sentiment: Management continues to see strong opportunities in selected financials names, including a recent positive stance on peers such as UnitedHealth and other coverage names, underscoring active analyst engagement across the franchise. UnitedHealth Positioned As AI Leader: Analyst
• Neutral Sentiment: Media attention around Morgan Stanley’s bullish SpaceX revenue outlook and related IPO coverage keeps the firm in the spotlight, but this is more of a longer-dated franchise story than an immediate earnings driver. Market Chatter: Morgan Stanley Projects SpaceX's Revenue Reaching $3.4 Trillion in 2040

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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