MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Stake Lessened by Private Advisor Group LLC

Private Advisor Group LLC lessened its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 24.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 717 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 228 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $430,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $251,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 492 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $295,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,044 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp increased its stake in MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA increased its stake in MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Down 0.4 %

MSCI stock opened at $587.87 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.81, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $593.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $590.05. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 period in the prior year, the company earned $3.68 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on MSCI shares. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

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.