Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Acquires Shares of 341 MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. purchased a new stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm purchased 341 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $205,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Mather Group LLC. increased its holdings in MSCI by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 807 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $484,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Trust Point Inc. acquired a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at $220,000. Spire Wealth Management lifted its position in MSCI by 38.0% during the fourth quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 4,190 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,514,000 after purchasing an additional 1,153 shares during the period. SYM FINANCIAL Corp purchased a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at $298,000. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 54.6% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 657 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $396,000 after buying an additional 232 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $572.78 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $602.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $586.05. The company has a market cap of $44.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.74, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.68 EPS. Research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.52%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.