Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Has $405,000 Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. decreased its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 675 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 29 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $405,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSCI. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,860,925,000 after acquiring an additional 11,351 shares during the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after acquiring an additional 318,214 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,862,362 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,082,594,000 after acquiring an additional 13,691 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in MSCI by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $925,531,000 after buying an additional 198,666 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $870,627,000 after buying an additional 37,340 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have issued reports on MSCI. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.85.

MSCI Stock Up 0.9 %

MSCI opened at $617.34 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $604.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $576.09. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.53, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $3.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders 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 dividend yield of 1.04%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company 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.