DV Trading LLC Grows Position in Morgan Stanley $MS

Posted by Geri Gentry on Aug 2nd, 2026

DV Trading LLC grew its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Free Report) by 755.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,276 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,776 shares during the quarter. DV Trading LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $704,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Morgan Stanley in the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,736,648,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 29.1% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 14,917,776 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $2,648,354,000 after buying an additional 3,364,080 shares during the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 142.4% during the 4th quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC now owns 3,122,060 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $511,723,000 after buying an additional 1,833,844 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1.2% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 2,332.9% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 1,406,495 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $249,710,000 after acquiring an additional 1,348,683 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MS. Argus upped their target price on shares of Morgan Stanley from $210.00 to $225.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Morgan Stanley from $211.00 to $233.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, July 6th. Erste Group Bank upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, April 27th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $243.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday, July 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $224.50.

View Our Latest Analysis on Morgan Stanley

More Morgan Stanley News

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

Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s fiscal 2026 EPS forecast was reportedly increased by an analyst, reinforcing expectations for continued earnings strength following the company’s recent quarterly beat. FY2026 EPS Forecast for Morgan Stanley Boosted by Analyst
Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley is reportedly among the firms discussing financing for a large Texas data-center and power project. Such mandates could benefit its investment-banking, advisory and financing businesses as demand for artificial-intelligence infrastructure expands. Morgan Stanley, others in talks to finance data center and power project in Texas
Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley-backed MEMX is set to combine with options exchange BOX in a transaction that gives control of the merged entity to TMX Group. The deal could strengthen Morgan Stanley’s strategic exposure to market infrastructure, although the immediate financial impact is unclear. Jane Street-Backed Exchange Sells Control to Canada’s TMX Group
Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley’s $1.15-per-share cash dividend went ex-dividend on July 31 and is scheduled for payment on August 14. The ex-dividend adjustment can create short-term volatility, but it does not change the company’s underlying earnings outlook. Morgan Stanley’s Dividend Analysis
Neutral Sentiment: Unusually heavy call-option activity, with 40,133 calls traded versus typical daily volume of about 18,021, indicated increased speculative interest in MS shares, though options activity alone does not establish a fundamental catalyst.

Morgan Stanley Price Performance

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $210.93 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $215.30 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $190.81. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $136.17 and a 12-month high of $232.25. The firm has a market cap of $332.70 billion, a PE ratio of 17.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 1.23. The company has a quick ratio of 0.77, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.52.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Free Report) last issued 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.65% and a return on equity of 19.51%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 27.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $2.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 12.79 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st will be issued a dividend of $1.15 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, July 31st. This represents a $4.60 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.2%. This is a boost from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 32.34%.

Morgan Stanley announced that its board has authorized a stock repurchase 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 reacquire 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.

Morgan Stanley Profile

(Free Report)

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.