Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich Acquires Shares of 24,654 Morgan Stanley $MS

Munich Reinsurance Co Stock Corp in Munich acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 24,654 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,919,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,234,883,000. Schroder Investment Management Group raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 23.4% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,357,200 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,318,055,000 after purchasing an additional 1,776,544 shares during the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 319.7% in the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,092,341 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $294,727,000 after purchasing an additional 1,593,774 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 18.1% during the second quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,623,305 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,355,537,000 after buying an additional 1,476,372 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,123,487 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $16,779,734,000 after buying an additional 1,354,142 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 21,555 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $3,966,120.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 171,005 shares in the company, valued at approximately $31,464,920. This trade represents a 11.19% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 20,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.55, for a total transaction of $3,691,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 127,872 shares in the company, valued at approximately $23,598,777.60. This represents a 13.53% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold 129,191 shares of company stock valued at $23,736,506 in the last 90 days. 0.19% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $160.15 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $178.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $167.85. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $94.33 and a 12 month high of $192.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $254.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.29 and a beta of 1.20.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.28 by $0.40. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 16.78% and a net margin of 14.09%.The firm had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.22 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th were given a dividend of $1.00 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.18%.

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley filed an updated S‑1 / SEC amendment advancing its planned spot Bitcoin ETF (naming Coinbase custody and BNY Mellon roles). That materially increases the firm’s potential fee pool (trading, custody, securities lending) if approved — a strategic growth lever beyond traditional banking. Morgan Stanley Files Updated SEC Amendment for Spot Bitcoin ETF Launch
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley provided financing (initial $500M, expandable to $1B) to Core Scientific for data center/AI infrastructure, demonstrating growth in corporate lending and structured finance opportunities tied to AI/crypto infrastructure. That can add fee and interest income if credit performance holds. Core Scientific secures up to $1B credit from Morgan Stanley for data centers
• Neutral Sentiment: Public commentary from Morgan Stanley events (tech/AI conferences) keeps the firm visible as an advisor/market‑maker in tech and AI financing; useful for long‑term franchise positioning but not an immediate earnings surprise. Morgan Stanley’s top tech banker: It’s ‘wartime, not peacetime’ for software
• Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley announced cuts of roughly 2,500 roles (~3% of workforce) across divisions. Markets often react negatively to broad layoffs because they signal restructuring risk, potential disruption to revenue growth and near‑term execution uncertainty even if they imply future cost savings. Morgan Stanley Sheds 2,500 Employees in Companywide Layoffs
• Negative Sentiment: Investor flow appears to favor trimming MS exposure amid the headlines; analysts and market commentators are re‑assessing near‑term margins and execution risk despite record revenues in 2025 — producing downward pressure on the share price today. Morgan Stanley Cuts 3% Workforce Despite Record Revenues in 2025

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on MS. The Goldman Sachs Group reissued a “neutral” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, January 22nd. Erste Group Bank reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley to a “moderate buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, January 5th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and ten have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $185.93.

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.