Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Has $797,000 Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,422 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 60 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $797,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at $26,000. Headinvest LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter worth about $30,000. American National Bank raised its position in shares of 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 shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at about $48,000. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total transaction of $4,245,210.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 12,831 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other MSCI news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the 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 owns 12,831 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief operating officer now owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Trading Down 0.5 %

MSCI opened at $479.31 on Tuesday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $485.29 and its 200 day simple moving average is $530.92. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $617.39. The stock has a market cap of $37.97 billion, a PE ratio of 32.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.14 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSCI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, June 25th. Barclays cut their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America upgraded MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $425.00 to $525.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target 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.