Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) Insider Charles Smith Sells 8,500 Shares

January 23, 2026 by InsiderTrades.com

Key Points

Insider sale: Morgan Stanley insider Eric Grossman sold 21,555 shares on Jan. 20 at an average price of $184 for about $3.97M, reducing his stake by 11.19% to 171,005 shares (SEC Form 4 filed).
Strong Q4 results: Morgan Stanley beat estimates with EPS of $2.68 vs. $2.28 and revenue of $17.90B (up 10.3% YoY), and analysts hold a consensus Moderate Buy rating with an average target around $185.93.
Dividend and caution: The firm declared a $1.00 quarterly dividend (annualized $4.00, ~2.2% yield), but the article highlights multiple recent senior executive stock sales, which could increase near‑term selling pressure.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) insider Charles Smith sold 8,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, January 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $182.08, for a total transaction of $1,547,680.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 119,128 shares of the company's stock, valued at $21,690,826.24. This trade represents a 6.66% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

This ETF Caught a Major Tailwind After the Fed’s Rate Cut

Shares of NYSE:MS opened at $183.00 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $290.84 billion, a PE ratio of 17.92, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. The company's fifty day moving average is $176.63 and its 200 day moving average is $160.79. Morgan Stanley has a 52 week low of $94.33 and a 52 week high of $192.68. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.28 by $0.40. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 14.09% and a return on equity of 16.92%. The business had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.69 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $2.22 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 earnings per share for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

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The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Investors of record on Friday, January 30th will be given a dividend of $1.00 per share. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 39.18%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MS. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter valued at about $2,234,883,000. Schroder Investment Management Group lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 23.4% in the second quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 9,357,200 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $1,318,055,000 after buying an additional 1,776,544 shares during the period. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 319.7% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 2,092,341 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $294,727,000 after acquiring an additional 1,593,774 shares in the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 18.1% during the 2nd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 9,623,305 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $1,355,537,000 after acquiring an additional 1,476,372 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,123,487 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $16,779,734,000 after acquiring an additional 1,354,142 shares during the period. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MS. UBS Group increased their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Dbs Bank upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley to a "moderate buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reiterated a "neutral" rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $185.93.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Morgan Stanley

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley was selected as one of the lead banks for the anticipated SpaceX IPO — a high‑visibility mandate that can generate significant fees and bolster investment-banking sentiment for MS. Elon Musk’s SpaceX lines up 4 banks for blockbuster IPO
Positive Sentiment: Quarterly banking context: the "Big Six" U.S. banks delivered strong bottom‑line Q4 results and Morgan Stanley was cited as an exception to the broader post‑earnings bank selloff — supporting investor confidence in MS’s earnings trajectory and ROE. Bank Stocks: Another Quarter of Double-Digit S&P 500 Earnings Growth?
Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley research flagged geopolitical and policy risks (U.S. policy and Trump-era trade/debt positions) that could influence dollar dominance and macro flows — useful for positioning but not an immediate stock catalyst. Trump policies put dollar dominance under fresh global scrutiny
Negative Sentiment: Large insider stock sales at Morgan Stanley were disclosed this week — multiple senior executives filed Form 4s selling sizable blocks (examples include Michael Pizzi, Andrew Saperstein, Eric Grossman, Sharon Yeshaya and others). Concentrated insider selling can increase near‑term selling pressure and raise investor caution. Insider sale SEC filing (Michael A. Pizzi)

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

(Get 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.