Goldenstone Wealth Management LLC Purchases Shares of 4,461 Morgan Stanley $MS

Goldenstone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 4,461 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $792,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. FourThought Financial Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.8% in the fourth quarter. FourThought Financial Partners LLC now owns 8,589 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,525,000 after purchasing an additional 156 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 63.7% in the fourth quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 41,722 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $7,407,000 after purchasing an additional 16,240 shares during the period. Twin Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 28.4% in the fourth quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 14,043 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,493,000 after purchasing an additional 3,109 shares during the period. Mach 1 Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,106,000. Finally, Griffin Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Griffin Asset Management Inc. now owns 26,537 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,711,000 after purchasing an additional 1,345 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the insider 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the transaction, the insider owned 169,403 shares in the company, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. This trade represents a 6.16% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762 over the last quarter. 0.17% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MS shares. Bank of America increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $220.00 to $225.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Rothschild & Co Redburn increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $171.00 to $183.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Citigroup increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $207.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Wolfe Research dropped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.95.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 4.3%

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $197.70 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $311.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.42 and a beta of 1.22. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $123.88 and a 52 week high of $198.07. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $177.48 and its 200 day moving average price is $175.58. 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) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.02 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.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 company earned $2.60 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.23%.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is reportedly one of the lead banks working with OpenAI on a confidential IPO filing, positioning the firm to benefit from underwriting, advisory, and related capital-markets fees if the deal moves forward. OpenAI readies IPO filing to list as soon as September
• Positive Sentiment: Separate coverage highlighted Morgan Stanley’s involvement in AI-related dealmaking and broader technology M&A, reinforcing the view that the bank is well positioned to capture activity tied to the AI investment cycle. Morgan Stanley Sees AI Deals Spreading Across Chips, Power, and Data Centers
• Neutral Sentiment: Other headlines were mostly commentary or positioning updates, including notes on Morgan Stanley’s outlook for Fed rate cuts and its tighter device/security policy for China travel, which are unlikely to move the stock on their own.

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.