Vest Financial LLC Grows Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Key Points

• Vest Financial LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 33.1% in Q4, buying 7,030 shares to hold 28,269 shares valued at about $5.02 million.
• Morgan Stanley beat Q1 estimates with $3.43 EPS versus $3.02 consensus and $20.58B revenue versus $19.23B expected, and announced a $1.00 quarterly dividend (annualized $4.00, ~2.1% yield).
• Insiders have sold a total of 110,444 shares (~$20.7M) over the past 90 days, while institutional investors own roughly 84.19% of the stock.

Vest Financial LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) by 33.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 28,269 shares of the financial services provider's stock after buying an additional 7,030 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC's holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $5,019,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Brighton Jones LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 10.2% during the 4th quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,607,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185 shares during the last quarter. Main Street Financial Solutions LLC increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,263,000 after purchasing an additional 3,661 shares during the last quarter. Diversify Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of 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 valued at $2,378,000 after purchasing an additional 7,688 shares during the last quarter. DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 15,623 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 3,807 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.8%

NYSE MS opened at $186.85 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $112.03 and a twelve month high of $194.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $295.49 billion, a PE ratio of 16.93, a P/E/G ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.19. The stock's 50 day moving average is $171.20 and its 200 day moving average is $172.62.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 14.65%.Morgan Stanley's quarterly revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $2.60 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 11.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio is presently 36.23%.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 32,968 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.61, for a total transaction of $6,020,286.48. Following the transaction, the insider directly owned 357,342 shares of the company's stock, valued at $65,254,222.62. This represents a 8.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 directly owned 282,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $53,209,159.78. This represents a 15.48% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 110,444 shares of company stock valued at $20,665,049 over the last ninety days. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Erste Group raised its FY2026 and FY2027 EPS forecasts for Morgan Stanley, reflecting better-than-expected earnings outlooks from the firm’s wealth and institutional businesses — a constructive signal for MS’s medium‑term earnings power.
• Positive Sentiment: Zacks upgraded Morgan Stanley to a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), which can attract momentum buyers and retail flows. Zacks Upgrade
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley Investment Management led an $875M senior debt financing for Bridgepointe Technologies — a reminder of MS’s deal flow and fee‑generating private credit/asset-management activity, which supports non‑interest revenue. Deal Announcement
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley continues to be active as an advisor/analyst across sectors (recent notes and industry coverage), underscoring its lead role in institutional markets — supportive longer term but not an immediate catalyst.
• Negative Sentiment: Broad market/sector weakness — especially large‑cap tech and AI‑related names — is pressuring equities and trading volumes today. Lower market volatility or pullbacks in big tech can reduce institutional trading and investment‑banking activity, a near‑term headwind for MS. Market/Meta Reaction
• Negative Sentiment: MS traded with lighter-than-average volume today while the stock pulled back — suggesting profit‑taking or short‑term repositioning despite the bullish analyst notes. That can amplify intraday moves.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MS shares. Wolfe Research dropped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $219.00 to $230.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $173.00 to $179.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 10th. Bank of America lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Evercore boosted their target price on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Eleven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $201.89.

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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