Morgan Stanley $MS Stock: Community Financial Services Group LLC Raises Position

Posted by Geri Gentry on Oct 16th, 2026

Community Financial Services Group LLC boosted its holdings in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Free Report) by 2,834.4% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,431 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,280 shares during the quarter. Community Financial Services Group LLC’s holdings in Morgan Stanley were worth $833,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Purpose Unlimited Inc. bought a new position in Morgan Stanley in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Marquette Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 143.4% during the 2nd quarter. Marquette Asset Management LLC now owns 129 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 76 shares in the last quarter. Atlatl Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hughes Financial Services LLC lifted its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 55.7% during the second quarter. Hughes Financial Services LLC now owns 137 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bayban raised its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 72.5% during the first quarter. Bayban now owns 188 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 79 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on MS. 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 restated a “neutral” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Wednesday. Evercore restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Morgan Stanley in a report on Monday, July 6th. Weiss Ratings raised Morgan Stanley from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $230.00 target price (down from $250.00) on shares of Morgan Stanley in a research report on Thursday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Morgan Stanley currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $214.71.

Get Our Latest Stock Analysis on Morgan Stanley

Key Morgan Stanley News

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

Positive Sentiment: Quarterly results exceeded expectations. Morgan Stanley reported $3.03 in EPS versus a $2.93 consensus estimate and $20.34 billion in revenue versus expectations of $19.93 billion. Revenue rose 11.6% year over year, while net income attributable to the firm reached approximately $4.9 billion. Morgan Stanley earnings report
Positive Sentiment: Equity trading and wealth management led growth. Institutional Securities revenue rose to $10.0 billion, helped by a 41% increase in equity revenue. Wealth Management generated record $9.1 billion revenue, added $232.4 billion in net new assets and reached $10.5 trillion in client assets. Morgan Stanley Q3 earnings call transcript
Positive Sentiment: Capital returns remain supportive. Morgan Stanley repurchased $1.54 billion of stock and declared a quarterly dividend of $1.15 per share, equivalent to an annualized $4.60 payout. Morgan Stanley dividend announcement
Neutral Sentiment: Management highlighted longer-term opportunities in AI financing and investment banking. These initiatives could expand revenue, but their financial impact remains uncertain. Morgan Stanley earnings call highlights
Negative Sentiment: Analyst target cuts are offsetting the earnings beat. Citigroup lowered its target to $190 and maintained a neutral rating, TD Cowen cut its target to $205 and kept a hold rating, while Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced its outperform target to $230. Piper Sandler also lowered its target to $205. The revisions suggest investors may view the strong trading performance as partly cyclical. Morgan Stanley analyst forecast changes
Negative Sentiment: Fixed-income trading was weaker amid bond-market volatility. The decline highlights Morgan Stanley’s exposure to uneven market conditions and raises questions about whether equity-trading momentum can persist.

Morgan Stanley Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of Morgan Stanley stock opened at $182.25 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $287.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.41, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 1.22. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.65. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $205.11 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $203.64. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $152.80 and a 12-month high of $232.25.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 14th. The financial services provider reported $3.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $2.93 by $0.10. Morgan Stanley had a net margin of 15.63% and a return on equity of 19.40%. The company had revenue of $20.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $19.93 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.80 EPS. Morgan Stanley’s quarterly revenue was up 11.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Morgan Stanley will post 12.66 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a share buyback plan on Wednesday, June 24th that permits the company to repurchase $20.00 billion in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization permits the financial services provider to repurchase up to 5.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Share repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Friday, October 30th will be given a $1.15 dividend. This represents a $4.60 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.5%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 37.19%.

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.