Truist Financial Corp Boosts Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Truist Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 0.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 565,029 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,488 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $100,310,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 40.1% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 29,744 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $5,281,000 after buying an additional 8,512 shares in the last quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 103.1% in the 3rd quarter. Bahl & Gaynor Inc. now owns 12,700 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,019,000 after acquiring an additional 6,448 shares during the last quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the 3rd quarter. Donaldson Capital Management LLC now owns 467,246 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $74,273,000 after acquiring an additional 9,056 shares during the last quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 52.6% during the 3rd quarter. ABN Amro Investment Solutions now owns 113,504 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $18,043,000 after acquiring an additional 39,104 shares in the last quarter. Finally, A4 Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the third quarter worth about $855,000. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total value of $2,779,935.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider owned 365,802 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $69,224,370.48. This represents a 3.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $32,313,622.25. This represents a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders sold a total of 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley was named a lead arranger on a roughly $13 billion financing for Meta’s planned El Paso data?center, a large corporate financing that should generate sizable underwriting and advisory fees and signals continued dealflow in tech infrastructure. Meta taps Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan for El Paso data center deal
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley Investment Management launched a centralized Wealth Education Center for advisors — a distribution and client?education tool that can help drive AUM retention and advisory flows over time. Morgan Stanley Investment Management Introduces Wealth Education Center
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley research remains active and visible (notes on tech, semiconductors and AI capex), which supports the firm’s reputation and potential trading/research revenue but is an indirect driver of stock moves. Morgan Stanley Lifts Targets on Semiconductor Stocks
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley commentary that strong tech earnings could offset geopolitical risk underscores its role in market strategy; this is more reputational than immediately earnings?moving. Morgan Stanley Sees Tech Earnings Eclipsing Iran War for Stocks
• Negative Sentiment: Financial-sector weakness today is pressuring banks broadly; MS is being pulled lower with the group as investors trim exposure to rate and macro risk. Sector Update: Financial Stocks Decline in Afternoon Trading
• Negative Sentiment: Intraday trading shows below?average volume and profit?taking after recent gains; lower demand can amplify downward moves even when firm?level headlines are positive. MS stock trading details

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.0%

MS stock opened at $188.22 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. The company has a market cap of $297.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.05, a PEG ratio of 1.43 and a beta of 1.22. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $171.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $172.99. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $117.21 and a 52 week high of $194.59.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.02 by $0.41. The firm had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 17.89% and a net margin of 14.65%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $2.60 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th will be given a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, April 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.1%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 36.23%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on MS. Erste Group Bank upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, April 27th. Wolfe Research lowered 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. HSBC raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $205.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating and eleven have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $201.89.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.