Cornerstone Advisory LLC Purchases 396 Shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

28 Jul 2025, 12:32 by Tristan Rich · The Markets Daily

Cornerstone Advisory LLC lifted its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Free Report) by 20.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,365 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 396 shares during the quarter. Cornerstone Advisory LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $280,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Omnia Family Wealth LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Omnia Family Wealth LLC now owns 3,140 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $395,000 after buying an additional 77 shares during the period. Continuum Advisory LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. Continuum Advisory LLC now owns 3,638 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $457,000 after buying an additional 87 shares during the period. Insight Inv LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 18,378 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $2,144,000 after purchasing an additional 88 shares during the period. Vivaldi Capital Management LP increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 1.8% during the 4th quarter. Vivaldi Capital Management LP now owns 5,096 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $696,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobsen Capital Management increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 4.2% during the 1st quarter. Jacobsen Capital Management now owns 2,212 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after purchasing an additional 90 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 0.4%

MS stock opened at $143.00 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $135.37 and a 200 day moving average of $127.74. The stock has a market capitalization of $229.42 billion, a PE ratio of 16.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.78, a current ratio of 0.78 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.11. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $90.94 and a 52 week high of $145.16.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.98 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $16.79 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $16.15 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.06% and a return on equity of 15.33%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.82 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has approved a stock repurchase plan on Tuesday, July 1st that allows the company to buyback $20.00 billion in shares. This buyback authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 8.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback plans are generally an indication that the company’s management believes its stock is undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, July 31st will be paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, July 31st. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.93. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 41.90%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Michael A. Pizzi sold 18,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $140.62, for a total transaction of $2,531,160.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 136,407 shares in the company, valued at approximately $19,181,552.34. The trade was a 11.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 12,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.12, for a total transaction of $1,693,440.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 186,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $26,307,590.40. The trade was a 6.05% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 188,949 shares of company stock worth $25,737,084. Corporate insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on MS shares. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the company from $127.00 to $160.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 9th. Bank of America cut their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 2nd. JMP Securities reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, April 14th. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Citigroup reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $130.00 price objective (up previously from $125.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $138.25.

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