4,846 Shares in Morgan Stanley $MS Bought by Focused Alpha LLC

Posted by Stanley Muller on Oct 20th, 2026

Focused Alpha LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Free Report) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 4,846 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $911,000.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Crown Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in Morgan Stanley by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Crown Wealth Group LLC now owns 1,532 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $320,000 after purchasing an additional 48 shares during the period. Hughes Financial Services LLC grew its position in Morgan Stanley by 55.7% in the 2nd quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC now owns 137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the last quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 35.7% in the second quarter. Evolution Wealth Management Inc. now owns 194 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 51 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc. increased its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 0.6% in the second quarter. Financial Management Professionals Inc. now owns 8,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $1,724,000 after purchasing an additional 52 shares during the period. Finally, Bank OZK raised its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 3.0% during the second quarter. Bank OZK now owns 1,815 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after buying an additional 53 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley was identified as one of the most oversold financial stocks, alongside Bank of America and Goldman Sachs. That positioning could attract bargain hunters and support a rebound if sentiment toward banks improves. Top 3 Financial Stocks Which Could Rescue Your Portfolio In Q4
Positive Sentiment: BMO Capital Markets lowered its price target for Morgan Stanley from $215 to $210 but maintained an Outperform rating. The revised target still implies meaningful upside from the stock’s referenced price, signaling that the analyst views the recent weakness as an opportunity rather than a deterioration in the long-term outlook. BMO Capital Markets Price Target Update
Neutral Sentiment: Morgan Stanley strategists continue to argue that investors should prepare to add risk as a broader equity-market pullback potentially nears its end. A recovery in risk appetite could benefit investment banking, wealth management and trading activity, although this is a market-level view rather than a new forecast for Morgan Stanley’s earnings. Morgan Stanley’s Wilson Says Get Ready to Buy as Stock Drop Ends
Negative Sentiment: The lower BMO price target provides a modest negative signal and reinforces concerns that near-term upside may be constrained, even though the firm retained its bullish rating.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $195.00 to $198.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price target on Morgan Stanley from $243.00 to $195.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. Zacks Research cut Morgan Stanley from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 30th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, July 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $230.00 price objective (down from $250.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Thursday, October 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $214.62.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on MS

Morgan Stanley Stock Down 1.1%

Shares of MS stock opened at $178.61 on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley has a 1 year low of $152.80 and a 1 year high of $232.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a current ratio of 0.79. The business’s fifty day moving average is $203.68 and its 200-day moving average is $203.90. The stock has a market cap of $281.72 billion, a PE ratio of 14.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.22.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $2.93 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $20.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.93 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.40% and a net margin of 15.63%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $2.80 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 12.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Shareholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be given a $1.15 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.6%. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is 36.51%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has authorized a share buyback plan on Wednesday, June 24th that authorizes the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are typically an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

(Free Report)

Morgan Stanley (NYSE: MS) is a global financial services company that provides investment banking, securities, wealth management and investment management services to corporations, institutions, governments and individual investors. Founded in 1935, the company is headquartered in New York City and serves clients through operations across North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific and other international markets.

Through its Institutional Securities segment, Morgan Stanley offers investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading, research, lending and related capital-markets services.