MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Acquired by Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,906 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 28 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. LRI Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 120.0% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth about $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp increased its stake in MSCI by 35.1% in 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. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE:MSCI opened at $585.51 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $602.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $572.69. The firm has a market cap of $45.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.44, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The company had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.45 EPS. MSCI’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.09%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MSCI. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $645.67.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 3.20% of the stock is 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.