Morgan Stanley $MS Position Reduced by University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co.

University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. trimmed its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 97.5% during the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 896 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 34,714 shares during the quarter. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $169,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $78,825,883,310. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at $2,040,227,000. Cullen Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at $295,482,000. Renaissance Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the first quarter valued at $110,938,000. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in Morgan Stanley by 89.7% during the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 1,410,293 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $232,092,000 after acquiring an additional 666,754 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $236.00 to $240.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, November 2nd. Erste Group Bank downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, October 8th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $215.00 to $210.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, October 19th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Tuesday, November 3rd. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $230.00 to $262.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $214.81.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 3.1%

Shares of MS opened at $187.13 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $295.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.85, a PEG ratio of 1.30 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. Morgan Stanley has a one year low of $152.80 and a one year high of $232.25. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $194.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $194.33.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $3.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.93 by $0.10. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 15.63%. The business had revenue of $20.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.93 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.80 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s revenue for the quarter was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 12.83 EPS 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be paid a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.5%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 36.51%.

More Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Vinyl Equity adds tools for cap-table management, equity administration and share transfers across private and public markets. The acquisition also includes digital-asset infrastructure, supporting Morgan Stanley’s effort to connect company equity services with its wealth-management business. Financial terms were not disclosed. Morgan Stanley to Acquire Digital-Native Transfer Agent Vinyl Equity
• Positive Sentiment: The strategic rationale is the opportunity to serve companies and employees through the IPO process and beyond. Coverage cited IPO-related flows as a meaningful contributor to Morgan Stanley’s recent wealth-asset inflows, though the potential benefits depend on IPO activity and successful integration of Vinyl. Morgan Stanley buys Vinyl Equity to capture more IPO wealth
• Neutral Sentiment: A separate report says Morgan Stanley is trimming exposure to data-center construction loans as AI financing shifts toward private-credit funds and asset managers. This changes the bank’s exposure to the sector, but the article does not quantify the financial impact. Morgan Stanley Trims Data Center Loan Exposure As AI Financing Shifts

Morgan Stanley Profile

Morgan Stanley is a global financial services company that provides investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, governments, institutions and individuals.

Its Institutional Securities business offers services such as financial advisory, capital raising, sales and trading, and research. The company also provides financial planning, brokerage and banking services through its Wealth Management business, while its Investment Management business offers investment strategies and portfolio management to a range of clients.

Founded in 1935, Morgan Stanley serves clients in the United States and across international markets, including Europe, the Middle East, Africa and Asia.