Morgan Stanley $MS Shares Sold by Heritage Investors Management Corp

Heritage Investors Management Corp trimmed its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 4.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 201,079 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 9,120 shares during the quarter. Morgan Stanley comprises about 1.1% of Heritage Investors Management Corp’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest position. Heritage Investors Management Corp’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $37,819,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the second quarter worth approximately $78,825,883,310. Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,040,227,000. Cullen Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $295,482,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at approximately $110,938,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. boosted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 89.7% during the 1st quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,410,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $232,092,000 after buying an additional 666,754 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, July 6th. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $260.00 to $236.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, October 5th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $223.00 to $217.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, HSBC raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $215.00 to $219.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, September 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $214.62.

Morgan Stanley News Roundup

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

• Positive Sentiment: Strong deal activity supports investment-banking momentum. Morgan Stanley ranked among the leading advisers by deal value in the automotive, technology, media and telecom, and power sectors during the first three quarters of 2026. Sustained M&A activity could support advisory-fee revenue. Mitsubishi UFJ and Morgan Stanley lead automotive M&A financial advisers’ list Morgan Stanley leads TMT M&A advisers
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is participating in a large AI infrastructure financing. The firm is part of a reported $63 billion financing structure involving Blackstone, Bank of America, and Citigroup to fund AI computing equipment leased to Anthropic. The transaction may create fee income and reinforce MS’s position in rapidly growing AI-related capital markets. Wall Street’s New $63 Billion AI Deal
• Neutral Sentiment: Analyst visibility remains high, but investor attention is focused on valuation. Morgan Stanley was among the most-watched stocks on Zacks, while commentary questioned whether its strong multiyear rally and current valuation are justified by returns on capital and future earnings growth. Shares were recently below both their 50-day and 200-day moving averages, signaling continued technical pressure.
• Negative Sentiment: AI exposure also introduces risk concerns. Commentary on the Anthropic financing warned that lenders and investors could face losses if AI hardware becomes obsolete, utilization disappoints, or AI-related valuations decline. Such concerns may weigh on sentiment toward MS even though the deal offers potential fee opportunities. Can Morgan Stanley Justify Its Price After AI Deal Wins?

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of MS opened at $184.38 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $198.11 and its 200 day moving average is $194.29. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $152.80 and a 12-month high of $232.25. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65. The stock has a market cap of $290.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.63, a P/E/G ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.10. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.63% and a return on equity of 19.40%. The business had revenue of $20.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.93 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $2.80 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 12.83 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be issued a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.51%.

About Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services company that provides investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, institutions, governments and individual investors. Founded in 1935, the company is headquartered in New York City and serves clients through operations across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other international markets.

Through its Institutional Securities segment, Morgan Stanley offers investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading, research, lending and related capital-markets services.