Teacher Retirement System of Texas Sells 3,565 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

Teacher Retirement System of Texas decreased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 292,383 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 3,565 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $46,477,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 1,354,142 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.2% in the second quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,045,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $3,387,005,000 after purchasing an additional 749,150 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth about $2,234,883,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2.9% during the second quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,438,530 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,894,023,000 after buying an additional 374,711 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.3% in the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,980,120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,546,659,000 after buying an additional 28,420 shares during the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 15,838 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.77, for a total transaction of $2,942,225.26. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 135,304 shares in the company, valued at $25,135,424.08. The trade was a 10.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, insider Andrew M. Saperstein sold 30,330 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $183.62, for a total value of $5,569,194.60. Following the transaction, the insider owned 280,481 shares in the company, valued at approximately $51,501,921.22. This trade represents a 9.76% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last three months, insiders sold 196,223 shares of company stock valued at $34,150,220. Company insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on MS shares. Dbs Bank raised shares of Morgan Stanley to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $157.00 to $162.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $207.00 target price on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Friday, January 16th. Citigroup upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Tuesday, January 6th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $185.93.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: High‑visibility investment‑banking mandate: Morgan Stanley was named one of the lead banks on the anticipated SpaceX IPO. That mandate can produce substantial advisory and underwriting fees and supports sentiment around MS’s investment‑banking pipeline. Elon Musk’s SpaceX lines up 4 banks for blockbuster IPO
• Positive Sentiment: Solid recent fundamentals and shareholder return: Morgan Stanley reported a January quarterbeat (EPS and revenue ahead of consensus) and declared a $1.00 quarterly dividend ($4.00 annualized). Those items support valuation and income investors. (See MS company page for the filings and detail.) Morgan Stanley stock page
• Neutral Sentiment: Macro research flagged policy risk: Morgan Stanley research has highlighted geopolitical and U.S. policy risks (e.g., trade and reserve‑currency dynamics) that could alter capital flows — useful for positioning but not an immediate stock catalyst. Trump policies put dollar dominance under fresh global scrutiny
• Negative Sentiment: Large, clustered insider sales disclosed this week: multiple senior executives filed Form 4s selling sizable blocks (examples include Andrew Saperstein, Eric Grossman, Michael Pizzi, Sharon Yeshaya and Charles Smith). Concentrated insider selling can increase near‑term supply and create caution for some investors. Morgan Stanley insider selling alert

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MS opened at $183.00 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27. The company has a market capitalization of $290.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.92, a P/E/G ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 1.20. Morgan Stanley has a 12 month low of $94.33 and a 12 month high of $192.68. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $176.63 and a 200-day moving average of $160.79.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced 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 return on equity of 16.92% and a net margin of 14.09%.The business had revenue of $17.90 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $17.69 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $2.22 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, January 30th will be issued a $1.00 dividend. This represents a $4.00 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio is currently 39.18%.

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.