California State Teachers Retirement System Sells 59,739 Shares of Morgan Stanley $MS

California State Teachers Retirement System cut its position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) by 3.2% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,790,507 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 59,739 shares during the quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.11% of Morgan Stanley worth $294,664,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 119,718,100 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $21,253,554,000 after buying an additional 1,361,940 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 103,854,751 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $18,437,334,000 after buying an additional 539,544 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,070,557 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,786,350,000 after acquiring an additional 534,708 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Morgan Stanley by 2.1% in the 4th quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 25,018,335 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $4,441,505,000 after acquiring an additional 524,189 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter valued at about $2,736,648,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MS. Wolfe Research dropped their price target on Morgan Stanley from $221.00 to $197.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 1st. CICC Research upped their price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley from $175.00 to $200.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 19th. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, June 30th. Citizens Jmp reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Finally, Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $224.50.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

MS opened at $211.82 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $214.81 and a 200-day moving average price of $190.37. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $136.17 and a 12-month high of $232.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $334.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.12, a PEG ratio of 1.53 and a beta of 1.23.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.89 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.51% and a net margin of 15.65%.The company’s revenue was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.13 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 12.68 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Shareholders of record on Friday, July 31st will be paid a $1.15 dividend. This is an increase from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 32.34%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has authorized a share buyback program on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the financial services provider to purchase up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

More Morgan Stanley News

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

• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley launched the MSSE Ethereum Trust and MSOL Solana Trust on NYSE Arca. Both products charge a 0.14% expense ratio and intend to stake assets, passing staking rewards to investors. The products expand Morgan Stanley’s digital-asset platform beyond its bitcoin offering and could generate new fee revenue. Morgan Stanley expands crypto lineup with Ether, Solana ETPs
• Positive Sentiment: Recent coverage highlighted Morgan Stanley’s strong position in the investment-banking and trading boom. The firm advised on 15 construction-related transactions worth $81.3 billion in the first half of 2026, reinforcing its competitive position in mergers and acquisitions. Morgan Stanley leads construction M&A advisory in H1 2026
• Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley strategists remain constructive on artificial-intelligence investment, arguing that major technology companies’ substantial AI spending could ultimately produce strong returns and improve profit margins. This supports continued advisory, financing and trading opportunities for MS, although the view primarily benefits its corporate clients. Morgan Stanley says AI investment could generate strong returns
• Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is among the anchor investors in Manipal Health Enterprises’ planned Indian IPO, which raised Rs 4,167 crore from anchor investors. The deal may provide advisory, underwriting or distribution revenue, but its near-term financial impact on MS was not disclosed. Manipal Health IPO anchor investment
• Negative Sentiment: The positive company-specific news has not offset likely profit-taking and broader risk reduction across financial and technology stocks. Morgan Stanley’s shares remain near their 52-week high, leaving valuation and market-sentiment concerns as potential reasons investors are selling despite the firm’s strong prior earnings and expanding fee opportunities.

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.