RFG Advisory LLC Acquires 45 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

RFG Advisory LLC boosted its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.3% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,086 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 45 shares during the quarter. RFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $609,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Evoke Wealth LLC increased its position in MSCI by 18.4% in the fourth quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 13,720 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,761,000 after buying an additional 2,135 shares during the last quarter. Grayhawk Investment Strategies Inc. purchased a new stake in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth $959,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 819,422 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $463,506,000 after buying an additional 57,342 shares during the last quarter. Nomura Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth $904,000. Finally, Brevan Howard Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth $2,755,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, May 13th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on MSCI in a research report on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price target on MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group reduced their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $570.53.

MSCI Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $489.16 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $487.22 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $531.98. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $617.39. The firm has a market cap of $38.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.51 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The firm had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.14 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th were paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.69%.

Insider Activity

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

About MSCI

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.