SVB Wealth LLC Invests $255,000 in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

SVB Wealth LLC bought a new stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 426 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $255,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 20.2% during the 3rd quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 791 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $461,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI during the third quarter valued at approximately $254,000. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 45,550 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $26,552,000 after purchasing an additional 814 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 30,515 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $17,788,000 after buying an additional 821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PDS Planning Inc bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $243,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Up 0.9 %

NYSE MSCI opened at $572.61 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $44.46 billion, a PE ratio of 40.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $591.88 and a 200 day simple moving average of $589.97.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 3.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MSCI Company 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.