27,940 Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS Acquired by Rakuten Investment Management Inc.

Rakuten Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 27,940 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,441,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at $2,234,883,000. Schroder Investment Management Group grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 23.4% during the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,357,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,318,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,776,544 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 319.7% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,092,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $294,727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,593,774 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 18.1% in the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,623,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,355,537,000 after purchasing an additional 1,476,372 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.1% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,123,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,779,734,000 after purchasing an additional 1,354,142 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Charles A. Smith sold 8,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.08, for a total transaction of $1,547,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 119,128 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $21,690,826.24. This represents a 6.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 15,838 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.77, for a total transaction of $2,942,225.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 135,304 shares in the company, valued at approximately $25,135,424.08. This trade represents a 10.48% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 196,223 shares of company stock valued at $34,150,220. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. HSBC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Barclays raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Citigroup lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $212.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $185.93.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE MS opened at $183.00 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $176.63 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $160.79. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $94.33 and a 12-month high of $192.68. The firm has a market cap of $290.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.92, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.40. The company had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.69 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.92% and a net margin of 14.09%.Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $2.22 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 39.18%.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley was selected as one of the lead banks for the anticipated SpaceX IPO — a high?visibility mandate that can generate significant fees and bolster investment-banking sentiment for MS. Elon Musk’s SpaceX lines up 4 banks for blockbuster IPO
• Positive Sentiment: Quarterly banking context: the “Big Six” U.S. banks delivered strong bottom?line Q4 results and Morgan Stanley was cited as an exception to the broader post?earnings bank selloff — supporting investor confidence in MS’s earnings trajectory and ROE. Bank Stocks: Another Quarter of Double-Digit S&P 500 Earnings Growth?
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley research flagged geopolitical and policy risks (U.S. policy and Trump-era trade/debt positions) that could influence dollar dominance and macro flows — useful for positioning but not an immediate stock catalyst. Trump policies put dollar dominance under fresh global scrutiny
• Negative Sentiment: Large insider stock sales at Morgan Stanley were disclosed this week — multiple senior executives filed Form 4s selling sizable blocks (examples include Michael Pizzi, Andrew Saperstein, Eric Grossman, Sharon Yeshaya and others). Concentrated insider selling can increase near?term selling pressure and raise investor caution. Insider sale SEC filing (Michael A. Pizzi)

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.