Greenspring Advisors LLC Invests $412,000 in Morgan Stanley $MS

Greenspring Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,320 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $412,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of 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 period. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 103.1% during the third quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 12,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,019,000 after purchasing an additional 6,448 shares during the period. ABN Amro Investment Solutions increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 52.6% during the third quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 113,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,043,000 after purchasing an additional 39,104 shares during the period. Wealthfront Advisers LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.9% during the third quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC now owns 157,575 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,048,000 after purchasing an additional 5,876 shares during the period. Finally, ABN AMRO Bank N.V. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 569.5% during the third quarter. ABN AMRO Bank N.V. now owns 296,764 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $47,484,000 after purchasing an additional 252,435 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $190.75, for a total transaction of $2,120,758.50. Following the transaction, the insider owned 169,403 shares in the company, valued at $32,313,622.25. This trade represents a 6.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 approximately $53,209,159.78. This trade 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 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Trending Headlines about Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley was selected, along with Goldman Sachs, to lead Anthropic’s IPO, a high-profile mandate that could add meaningful investment-banking fees and highlights the firm’s strength in AI-related capital markets work. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Land Anthropic IPO
• Positive Sentiment: News that Morgan Stanley Wealth Management is preparing to open parts of its stock-administration platform to external AI agents suggests the company is leaning into automation and could improve efficiency and client service in a large, recurring-fee business. Morgan Stanley will soon open its trillion-dollar wealth management funnel to AI agents
• Positive Sentiment: Several recent Morgan Stanley research calls on unrelated stocks remained constructive on AI, consumer, and industrial themes, helping reinforce the firm’s reputation as a leading market strategist and advisor. Nvidia Stock Forecast — Top Morgan Stanley Analyst Sees 34% Upside, Calls It a Top Pick
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley also appeared in other market-moving coverage around rates, FX, and financials, but those pieces were more about the firm’s views than about a direct earnings or guidance change for MS. Morgan Stanley Sees Fed Discounting War in Considering Any Hike

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Morgan Stanley stock opened at $218.38 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $187.87 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $178.81. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $127.34 and a one year high of $219.16. 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 $344.44 billion, a PE ratio of 19.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.70% and a net margin of 14.65%.The firm had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $2.60 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 yield of 1.8%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 36.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Citigroup increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $194.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $220.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Dbs Bank increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $185.00 to $220.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 7th. Finally, Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, April 27th. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.95.

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.