ProShare Advisors LLC Sells 30,743 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

ProShare Advisors LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 243,924 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 30,743 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $38,774,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MS. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.1% in 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. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 24,045,186 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $3,387,005,000 after purchasing an additional 749,150 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,234,883,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in Morgan Stanley by 2.9% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 13,438,530 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,894,023,000 after purchasing an additional 374,711 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.3% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 10,980,120 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,546,659,000 after buying an additional 28,420 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Headlines Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s Q4 results and the sectorwide rebound in trading and deal activity are supporting investor confidence — MS reported a Q4 earnings beat and revenue growth (quarterly EPS and revenue topped expectations), which underpins the stock’s gain today.
• Positive Sentiment: MS research/coverage is driving flows into niche sectors (notably bitcoin miners and some AI-related names); several miners and tech stocks rallied after Morgan Stanley initiated/upgraded coverage, which helps overall market sentiment for the firm as a research leader. Two Bitcoin Miners Rise On Morgan Stanley Coverage, AI Potential
• Neutral Sentiment: Market writeups continue to list MS among the investment‑banking leaders benefiting from solid Q4 results and stronger trading/deal activity, which supports a constructive narrative but is already priced into large-cap bank multiples. 3 Must-Buy Investment Bank Behemoths After Solid Q4 Earnings
• Neutral Sentiment: Ongoing analyst activity from MS (revisions and coverage changes across names like Duolingo and Cardinal Health) highlights the firm’s influential research flow — supportive for MS’s fee and research positioning but not an immediate earnings driver for MS itself. Morgan Stanley Cuts Duolingo PT to $245
• Negative Sentiment: Evercore/other outlets trimmed their stance on Morgan Stanley (cut to Hold), creating some short‑term headwind and reminding investors there are near‑term execution/valuation concerns despite robust results. Morgan Stanley Cut to Hold at Evercore

Insider Activity

In related news, CFO Sharon Yeshaya sold 15,838 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $185.77, for a total value of $2,942,225.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 135,304 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $25,135,424.08. The trade was a 10.48% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Eric F. Grossman sold 21,555 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, January 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $184.00, for a total transaction of $3,966,120.00. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 171,005 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $31,464,920. This trade represents a 11.19% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 129,191 shares of company stock worth $23,736,506. Insiders own 0.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $182.32 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $180.85 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $164.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.27, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.79. The company has a market capitalization of $289.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.86, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.20. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $94.33 and a 1 year high of $192.68.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, January 15th. The financial services provider reported $2.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $17.69 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $2.22 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 10.3% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 8.56 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on MS shares. Evercore ISI lowered Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Evercore cut shares of Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Jefferies Financial Group increased their price target on Morgan Stanley from $186.00 to $212.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 6th. BNP Paribas Exane raised their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $170.00 to $195.00 in a report on Friday, January 16th. Finally, Dbs Bank raised Morgan Stanley to a “moderate buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and ten have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $185.93.

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.