Trek Financial LLC Acquires New Stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

06 Apr 2025, 13:38 by Mitch Edgeman · The Markets Daily

Trek Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 31,643 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,978,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.8% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 4,711,805 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $491,159,000 after acquiring an additional 36,120 shares in the last quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. IHT Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $915,000 after purchasing an additional 708 shares during the period. Morse Asset Management Inc raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 7.1% in the 3rd quarter. Morse Asset Management Inc now owns 4,424 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $461,000 after purchasing an additional 295 shares in the last quarter. Voya Financial Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 30.2% in the 3rd quarter. Voya Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 4,795 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $499,000 after buying an additional 1,113 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 80.0% during the third quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC now owns 240,682 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $23,408,000 after buying an additional 106,981 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 13,097 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $136.20, for a total transaction of $1,783,811.40. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 197,444 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $26,891,872.80. This represents a 6.22 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CFO Raja Akram sold 17,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $136.01, for a total value of $2,380,175.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now directly owns 81,440 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,076,654.40. This trade represents a 17.69 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 7.6 %

NYSE MS opened at $99.75 on Friday. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $85.01 and a one year high of $142.03. The firm has a market cap of $160.88 billion, a PE ratio of 12.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.18 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $127.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $124.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.80.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 16th. The financial services provider reported $2.22 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.54 by $0.68. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 14.39% and a net margin of 12.48%. The company had revenue of $16.23 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $15.03 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 25.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, January 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, January 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 46.60%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MS shares. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $142.00 to $130.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, March 28th. Barclays raised their price target on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $156.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, January 17th. Bank of America lowered their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $144.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Morgan Stanley from $129.00 to $125.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Evercore ISI lowered their price target on Morgan Stanley from $150.00 to $138.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Twelve analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $129.87.

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