Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

by · The Markets Daily

Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Free Report) by 10.8% in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 217,000 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 21,151 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $34,494,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Brighton Jones LLC grew its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. Brighton Jones LLC now owns 12,782 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,607,000 after purchasing an additional 1,185 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 12.0% during the 2nd quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 3,540 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $499,000 after buying an additional 380 shares in the last quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC grew its stake in Morgan Stanley by 119.2% in the 2nd quarter. NewSquare Capital LLC now owns 958 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $135,000 after acquiring an additional 521 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 23.2% in the 2nd quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 16,155 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,276,000 after acquiring an additional 3,045 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Barn Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth about $219,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Trending Headlines about Morgan Stanley

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

  • Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley filed amended registration for spot crypto ETFs and named Coinbase and BNY Mellon as custodians — a concrete step into ETF products that could generate new AUM and fee revenue if approved by the SEC. Morgan Stanley taps Coinbase and BNY for Bitcoin ETF custody
  • Positive Sentiment: Firm-level research and public messaging (including bullish market notes) position Morgan Stanley to benefit from ongoing AI and market rotations — supports investment-banking deal flow and wealth-management client activity over time. Morgan Stanley Maintains Bullish US Stock Outlook Despite Iran Conflict
  • Neutral Sentiment: Comments and takeaways from the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom conference are raising sector-level interest (Google CFO and other tech commentary) — useful for sentiment and MS’s research/relationships, but not an immediate earnings catalyst. These Are the Key Future Growth Drivers that Google’s CFO Just Highlighted
  • Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley will cut roughly 3% of its global workforce (~2,500 jobs) across investment banking, trading and wealth-management lines — cost-saving but a signal of margin pressure and potential near-term severance/one-time charges and execution risk. That news is likely weighing on sentiment for risk assets tied to fee growth. Morgan Stanley to cut about 3% of workforce across key divisions

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, insider Daniel A. Simkowitz sold 32,968 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.61, for a total transaction of $6,020,286.48. Following the transaction, the insider owned 357,342 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $65,254,222.62. This trade represents a 8.45% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Charles A. Smith sold 8,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $182.08, for a total value of $1,547,680.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 119,128 shares in the company, valued at $21,690,826.24. This represents a 6.66% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 129,191 shares of company stock valued at $23,736,506 over the last quarter. 0.19% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MS. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. HSBC reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Wednesday, January 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a “neutral” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Tuesday, January 6th. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $207.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $157.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 8th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and nine have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $185.93.

View Our Latest Research Report on MS

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS opened at $167.59 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.81, a quick ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.39. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $179.02 and its 200-day simple moving average is $167.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $266.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.41, a PEG ratio of 1.34 and a beta of 1.20. Morgan Stanley has a twelve month low of $94.33 and a twelve month high of $192.68.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $2.22 earnings per share. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.3% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 30th were issued a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 30th. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.4%. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is presently 39.18%.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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