Prospera Private Wealth LLC Makes New $452,000 Investment in Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS)

Prospera Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 4,339 shares of the financial services provider’s stock, valued at approximately $452,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Northwest Investment Counselors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 3rd quarter valued at $26,000. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at $25,000. POM Investment Strategies LLC lifted its stake in shares of Morgan Stanley by 1,147.6% in the 2nd quarter. POM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 262 shares of the financial services provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Finally, Bbjs Financial Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Morgan Stanley in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.19% of the company’s stock.

Morgan Stanley Stock Performance

Shares of MS stock opened at $131.69 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $212.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.25 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $114.66 and a 200-day simple moving average of $104.68. Morgan Stanley has a 12-month low of $76.33 and a 12-month high of $135.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.80, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 3.14.

Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 16th. The financial services provider reported $1.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.27 billion. On average, equities analysts forecast that Morgan Stanley will post 7.32 EPS for the current year.

Morgan Stanley Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, October 31st were paid a $0.925 dividend. This represents a $3.70 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.81%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, October 31st. Morgan Stanley’s payout ratio is currently 56.32%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MS has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $102.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 8th. HSBC raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $118.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Royal Bank of Canada upped their price objective on Morgan Stanley from $108.00 to $122.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Hsbc Global Res raised Morgan Stanley from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upped their target price on Morgan Stanley from $120.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $112.94.

Insider Activity at Morgan Stanley

In other Morgan Stanley news, Director Stephen J. Luczo sold 60,000 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the director now owns 138,363 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $16,488,718.71. This trade represents a 30.25 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Morgan Stanley Company 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.