Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund Reduces Stock Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund lowered its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 186,033 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 8,500 shares during the period. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $33,026,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $21,253,554,000 after acquiring an additional 1,361,940 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 27,321,214 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,343,523,000 after buying an additional 167,487 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,070,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,786,350,000 after buying an additional 534,708 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,018,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,441,505,000 after buying an additional 524,189 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter worth $2,736,648,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MS has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. HSBC increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $153.00 to $177.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, April 17th. Wolfe Research lowered their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group downgraded Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, March 9th. Daiwa Securities Group increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 5th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Twelve equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $205.95.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley was named a lead underwriter for Anthropic’s IPO, reinforcing its position in major capital-markets mandates. Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs Land Anthropic IPO
• Positive Sentiment: The firm also expanded its wealth-management/crypto offering through a referral arrangement with Galaxy Digital, which could support longer-term client engagement and product breadth. Morgan Stanley Wealth Management and Galaxy Digital Announce Referral Capability for In-Kind Creation of Spot Crypto ETP Shares
• Positive Sentiment: Management continues to see strong opportunities in selected financials names, including a recent positive stance on peers such as UnitedHealth and other coverage names, underscoring active analyst engagement across the franchise. UnitedHealth Positioned As AI Leader: Analyst
• Neutral Sentiment: Media attention around Morgan Stanley’s bullish SpaceX revenue outlook and related IPO coverage keeps the firm in the spotlight, but this is more of a longer-dated franchise story than an immediate earnings driver. Market Chatter: Morgan Stanley Projects SpaceX’s Revenue Reaching $3.4 Trillion in 2040

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 2.7%

NYSE MS opened at $212.44 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $188.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $179.05. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $128.81 and a twelve month high of $219.16. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. The company has a market capitalization of $335.07 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.24, a PEG ratio of 1.64 and a beta of 1.23.

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, beating 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 business had revenue of $20.58 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.60 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 16.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 11.85 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 11,118 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the insider owned 169,403 shares in the company, valued at $32,313,622.25. This trade represents a 6.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction 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 the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $188.59, for a total value of $9,744,068.12. Following the sale, 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. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders have sold 77,476 shares of company stock worth $14,644,762 over the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.17% of the company’s stock.

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.