Rockland Trust Co. Reduces Stock Holdings in Morgan Stanley $MS

Posted by Brian Himes on Oct 5th, 2026

Rockland Trust Co. decreased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Free Report) by 87.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,777 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 70,853 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $1,839,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in MS. Polaris Financial Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $63,000. CX Institutional boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.3% in the third quarter. CX Institutional now owns 7,998 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,504,000 after acquiring an additional 106 shares in the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 1.5% in the third quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 6,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,175,000 after acquiring an additional 91 shares in the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 12.0% in the second quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 279,622 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $58,452,000 after acquiring an additional 30,010 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Security National Bank of SO Dak purchased a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. 84.19% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Key Stories Impacting Morgan Stanley

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

Positive Sentiment: Morgan Stanley strategists expect an earnings-led improvement in industrial stocks and believe the gap between the S&P 500 and weaker market breadth could narrow. This outlook supports the firm’s investment-banking, trading and wealth-management businesses if market participation and corporate activity broaden. Morgan Stanley’s Wilson Sees Earnings-Led Upturn in Industrials
Positive Sentiment: The firm’s analysts remain constructive on several companies, including Seagate, Western Digital, Continental and Nvidia. Continued high-profile research activity can reinforce Morgan Stanley’s advisory franchise and potentially benefit investment-banking and institutional-equities revenue. Seagate and Western Digital Stocks Rebound as Morgan Stanley Says Get Aggressive
Neutral Sentiment: An analysis of Morgan Stanley’s economic moat highlights its shift from a market-dependent trading house toward a more diversified wealth-management and investment-banking model. The assessment is strategically encouraging but does not represent a new earnings forecast or corporate announcement. What is Morgan Stanley’s Economic Moat, and is it Widening or Narrowing?
Negative Sentiment: Morgan Stanley disclosed a substantial reduction in its Polaris position, a portfolio-management decision that may create a modestly negative read-through for sentiment but does not indicate a change in Morgan Stanley’s own fundamentals. Polaris Institutional Holdings Update

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts recently commented on MS shares. Oppenheimer downgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, June 30th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, July 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. UBS Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $236.00 price objective on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Monday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $221.65.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on Morgan Stanley

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

MS traded down $0.08 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $190.23. 1,849,330 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 6,168,083. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $209.57 and its 200-day moving average price is $201.99. The stock has a market capitalization of $300.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.38, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.79, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65. Morgan Stanley has a 52-week low of $151.84 and a 52-week high of $232.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 15th. The financial services provider reported $3.46 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.89 by $0.57. The firm had revenue of $21.35 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.67 billion. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 19.31% and a net margin of 15.65%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 27.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $2.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Morgan Stanley will post 12.75 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 14th. Investors of record on Friday, July 31st were given a dividend of $1.15 per share. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.4%. This is a positive change from Morgan Stanley’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.00. The ex-dividend date was Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 37.19%.

Morgan Stanley declared that its board has authorized a stock buyback program on Wednesday, June 24th that allows the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding 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 usually a sign that the company’s management believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Company Profile

(Free Report)

Morgan Stanley is a global financial services firm serving corporations, governments, financial institutions, individuals and other investors. The company provides investment banking and advisory services, including mergers and acquisitions advice, equity and debt underwriting, securities sales and trading, and corporate lending.

Through its Wealth Management business, Morgan Stanley offers financial planning, brokerage, investment advisory and banking services to individual investors, businesses and institutions.