MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Acquired by World Equity Group Inc.

World Equity Group Inc. grew its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 106.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,264 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 651 shares during the quarter. World Equity Group Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $758,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSCI. LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 120.0% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the third quarter valued at $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $578.71 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a PE ratio of 41.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50-day moving average of $596.24 and a 200 day moving average of $588.40. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 last year, the business posted $3.68 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSCI. 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. Barclays cut 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three 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, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

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.