Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Insider Sells $9,744,068.12 in Stock

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) insider Andrew Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of the business’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. The trade was a 15.48% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

NYSE MS traded up $1.63 on Friday, hitting $188.95. 6,835,995 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 7,433,284. The firm has a market cap of $298.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.11, a P/E/G ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.19. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a current ratio of 0.81 and a quick ratio of 0.81. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $168.65 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $170.48. Morgan Stanley has a fifty-two week low of $104.78 and a fifty-two week high of $194.59.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 14.65%.The business had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $2.60 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

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

More Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Q1 results beat — MS reported stronger-than-expected Q1 revenue ($20.58B) and EPS ($3.43), driven by record trading and healthy investment-banking and wealth-management flows; investors are rewarding the quarter’s mix and outlook. MS Q1 Deep Dive
• Positive Sentiment: Spot Bitcoin ETF traction — Morgan Stanley’s MSBT spot Bitcoin ETF has drawn rapid inflows (~$100M+ in the first week), supporting fee income, product distribution momentum for wealth channels and credibility in digital-assets distribution. MS Bitcoin ETF Inflows
• Positive Sentiment: Street confirms upside — multiple firms raised price targets or upgraded MS after Q1 (examples include Argus, Evercore, BofA and Keefe); analyst lift helps sustain buying interest. Analysts Boost Forecasts
• Positive Sentiment: Shareholder returns and cash flow — MS announced a $1.00 quarterly dividend (record/ex-dividend dates published), reinforcing capital-return optionality after a strong quarter.
• Neutral Sentiment: Investment-banking pipeline — MS is active on large AI/cloud financings (e.g., CoreWeave and other capacity deals), which supports fees but also ties future revenue to underwriting execution and market demand. CoreWeave / AI Financing
• Neutral Sentiment: Regulatory/political watch — Senator Warren requested Fed-era records tied to former Fed actions (references include institutions helped in 2008); this is primarily reputational and procedural but worth monitoring for headlines. Warren Requests Fed Records
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation and resistance — some commentators and a few shops flag stretched near-term valuation after the rally; a couple of firms still carry neutral/market-perform stances with price targets below recent levels, which can cap upside or trigger profit-taking. Rothschild PT Update
• Negative Sentiment: Market sensitivity to trading revenue — a meaningful slice of MS’s beat came from elevated trading during market volatility; if trading volumes normalize, forward-quarter earnings could face higher bar versus the recent print (investors may re-rate cyclicality).

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at about $28,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MS shares. Daiwa Securities Group reduced their price target on Morgan Stanley from $187.00 to $175.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 7th. Wall Street Zen raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Wolfe Research cut their target price on Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $218.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $199.67.

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.