Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Purchases 9,971 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 9.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 113,771 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,971 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $20,198,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the 4th quarter valued at $217,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 315,775 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $56,060,000 after purchasing an additional 2,322 shares in the last quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 17.6% during the fourth quarter. Paragon Private Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,041 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $362,000 after buying an additional 306 shares during the last quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Portfolio Design Labs LLC now owns 9,069 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,610,000 after buying an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonebrook Private Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 4.7% in the 4th quarter. Stonebrook Private Inc. now owns 1,847 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $328,000 after buying an additional 83 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MS shares. Evercore raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $190.00 to $210.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $207.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, April 16th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $196.00 to $214.00 in a research note on Wednesday, May 6th. Citizens Jmp reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, HSBC increased their target price on Morgan Stanley from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, April 17th. Twelve research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.95.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of MS stock opened at $206.89 on Thursday. 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 company has a market cap of $326.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.74, a PEG ratio of 1.58 and a beta of 1.23. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $128.81 and a 1 year high of $219.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $191.80 and a 200-day moving average price of $180.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its earnings results 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 company had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.23 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $2.60 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, April 30th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, April 30th. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 36.23%.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley continues to get constructive analyst attention, including recent pieces calling it a strong momentum name and a buy idea for investors. What Makes Morgan Stanley (MS) a Strong Momentum Stock: Buy Now?
• Positive Sentiment: The bank is being seen as a beneficiary of a potential AI IPO wave, with Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley expected to earn underwriting, trading, and advisory fees from offerings such as OpenAI, Anthropic, and SpaceX. Forget the AI IPOs. Consider the Banks Bringing Them Public.
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley also announced a new AI-related move in wealth management, opening its workplace stock-plan platforms to clients’ AI agents, which could deepen client ties and improve efficiency. Morgan Stanley Expands AI Access to Power Workplace Wealth Hub
• Neutral Sentiment: Reuters reported that Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities aims to grow retail wealth assets by $62 billion over the medium to long term, reinforcing Morgan Stanley’s global wealth-management growth story. Mitsubishi UFJ Morgan Stanley Securities aims to grow retail wealth assets by $62 billion
• Negative Sentiment: Several Morgan Stanley-linked notes on other companies were mixed recently, including a price-target cut on General Mills and a cautionary underweight stance on Dell, showing the firm is still selective despite the positive MS narrative. Morgan Stanley Cuts General Mills (GIS) Forecast Again Amid Inflation Concerns

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 sale, the insider directly owned 169,403 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,313,622.25. This represents a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 51,668 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total transaction 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. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 77,476 shares of company stock valued at $14,644,762. 0.17% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.