Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Has $22.05 Million Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund raised its stake in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 29.9% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 138,741 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 31,906 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $22,054,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 54.7% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 763,588 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $121,380,000 after acquiring an additional 269,972 shares during the last quarter. Next Level Private LLC boosted its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.4% during the third quarter. Next Level Private LLC now owns 26,348 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $4,165,000 after purchasing an additional 94 shares during the last quarter. Steinberganna Wealth Management purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the third quarter valued at about $477,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. acquired a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth about $161,000. Finally, Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC increased its position in Morgan Stanley by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Clear Harbor Asset Management LLC now owns 5,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $918,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, CEO Edward Pick sold 100,000 shares of Morgan Stanley stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 31st. The stock was sold at an average price of $164.34, for a total value of $16,434,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 574,986 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $94,493,199.24. The trade was a 14.82% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.19% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley News Summary

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley filed spot crypto ETF registrations (Bitcoin, Solana and a spot Ethereum trust that may include staking), expanding its wealth-product suite and distribution reach — a potential long-term revenue and brand win for its wealth-management channels. Morgan Stanley Files Third Crypto ETF In 48 Hours
• Positive Sentiment: The bank said it will launch a digital wallet in H2 2026 to support tokenized assets, signaling product expansion into custody/staking and providing another potential distribution channel for crypto services. Morgan Stanley Announces Digital Wallet Launch
• Positive Sentiment: Internal dealmaking activity appears to be picking up — Morgan Stanley promoted ~184 employees to managing director after a revival in M&A and capital-markets activity, supporting higher IB fees if deal flow continues. Managing Director Promotions After Dealmaking Revival
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst sentiment: Zacks upgraded MS to a Strong Buy and also added MS to a dividend/income list — these endorsements can attract flows from model/quant and income-focused investors. MS Upgraded to Strong Buy by Zacks
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s CIO Mike Wilson reiterated confidence in earnings growth and called out consumer stocks as a key opportunity — supportive macro/sentiment commentary from senior research can lift investor conviction. Mike Wilson Sees ‘Crystal Clear’ Earnings Growth
• Neutral Sentiment: Near-term event risk: Morgan Stanley reports earnings next week and Wall Street expects earnings growth — the report will be a catalyst that could reinforce or reverse today’s move depending on results and guidance. MS Reports Next Week—Street Expects Growth
• Negative Sentiment: Valuation/analyst caution: some firms (including a recent JPMorgan note) have kept neutral ratings or signaled limited upside vs. current price — that can cap gains if investors shift to profit-taking or rotate into larger perceived winners.
• Negative Sentiment: Regulatory and competitive risks in crypto: launching ETFs and staking features attracts SEC and compliance scrutiny and puts Morgan Stanley in a crowded ETF field — any regulatory pushback or slow asset flows would be a near-term drag on the trade.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $184.00 to $202.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $165.00 to $175.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $156.00 to $165.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Citigroup raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $155.00 to $170.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, October 16th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $183.00 to $219.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eight have assigned a Buy rating and eight have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $181.85.

Morgan Stanley Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE:MS opened at $184.70 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $172.53 and its 200-day moving average is $157.65. 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 has a 12 month low of $94.33 and a 12 month high of $188.82. The firm has a market cap of $293.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.94, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 1.20.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.80 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.07 by $0.73. The business had revenue of $17.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $16.42 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 13.85% and a return on equity of 16.40%. Morgan Stanley’s revenue was up 18.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.88 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 14th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 31st were paid a $1.00 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, October 31st. This represents a $4.00 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.2%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is presently 41.03%.

Morgan Stanley 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.