SageView Advisory Group LLC Purchases New Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

SageView Advisory Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 828 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $499,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Optiver Holding B.V. bought a new position in MSCI during the third quarter valued at about $26,000. Headinvest LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the third quarter worth about $30,000. American National Bank boosted its position in MSCI by 1,300.0% during the fourth quarter. American National Bank now owns 70 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 65 shares during the period. First United Bank & Trust bought a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $48,000. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 36.1% during the fourth quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $476.52 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $490.67 and its 200 day simple moving average is $532.95. The company has a market capitalization of $37.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.53, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The business had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. MSCI’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.14 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.69%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total transaction of $4,245,210.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other MSCI news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total transaction of $4,245,210.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, April 12th. StockNews.com lowered shares of MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 price target on the stock in a report on Monday, May 13th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $570.53.

MSCI Profile

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides critical decision support tools and solutions for the investment community to manage investment processes worldwide. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed financial product, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, and over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.