Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Insider Sells $2,779,935.60 in Stock

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) insider Daniel Simkowitz sold 14,690 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, April 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $189.24, for a total transaction of $2,779,935.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 365,802 shares in the company, valued at $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 available through this hyperlink.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS traded up $1.63 during trading on Friday, hitting $188.95. The stock had a trading volume of 6,835,995 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,433,284. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a current ratio of 0.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $298.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.11, a PEG ratio of 1.52 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $168.65 and its 200 day moving average price is $170.48. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $104.78 and a twelve month high of $194.59.

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

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Morgan Stanley

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Purpose Unlimited Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Motiv8 Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Olistico Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. Lodestone Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. Finally, WFA of San Diego LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth about $28,000. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Key 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).

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on MS shares. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $189.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Erste Group Bank reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $205.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $215.00 to $190.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 6th. Finally, Argus upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and twelve have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $199.67.

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.