Prospera Private Wealth LLC Takes Position in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 4,339 shares of the financial services provider's stock, valued at approximately $452,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its holdings in shares of Morgan Stanley by 58.0% in the 1st quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 4,303 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $405,000 after purchasing an additional 1,580 shares in the last quarter. EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Morgan Stanley during the first quarter worth $122,000. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 143.6% in the first quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 8,810 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $830,000 after buying an additional 5,194 shares in the last quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Morgan Stanley by 12.6% in the 1st quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,366 shares of the financial services provider's stock worth $976,000 after buying an additional 1,158 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital International Inc. CA increased its holdings in Morgan Stanley by 22.4% during the 1st quarter. Capital International Inc. CA now owns 138,482 shares of the financial services provider's stock valued at $13,039,000 after acquiring an additional 25,344 shares in the last quarter. 84.19% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MS. UBS Group upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 8th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Morgan Stanley from $121.00 to $135.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Morgan Stanley from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Wells Fargo & Company upgraded Morgan Stanley from an "underweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $107.00 to $142.00 in a report on Friday, November 15th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $106.00 to $121.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $112.94.

Morgan Stanley Stock Up 2.6 %

Shares of NYSE MS traded up $3.47 on Thursday, hitting $135.17. The company had a trading volume of 3,949,964 shares, compared to its average volume of 7,075,311. The business has a 50 day moving average of $114.66 and a two-hundred day moving average of $104.68. The firm has a market capitalization of $217.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.57, a PEG ratio of 1.23 and a beta of 1.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.80, a current ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $76.33 and a 12-month high of $135.57.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.57 by $0.31. Morgan Stanley had a return on equity of 12.58% and a net margin of 10.64%. The business had revenue of $15.38 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $14.27 billion. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, October 31st. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.74%. Morgan Stanley's payout ratio is currently 56.32%.

Insider Transactions at Morgan Stanley

In other news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, October 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $119.17, for a total transaction of $7,150,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 138,363 shares in the company, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. This represents a 30.25 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Morgan Stanley Profile

Morgan Stanley, a financial holding company, provides various financial products and services to corporations, governments, financial institutions, and individuals in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. It operates through Institutional Securities, Wealth Management, and Investment Management segments.