MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Bought by Wallace Advisory Group LLC

Wallace Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 63.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 1,595 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 617 shares during the period. Wallace Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $930,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of MSCI by 0.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,860,925,000 after buying an additional 11,351 shares during the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 16.9% in the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after buying an additional 318,214 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,862,362 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,082,594,000 after buying an additional 13,691 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its position in shares of MSCI by 14.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $925,531,000 after buying an additional 198,666 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 2.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $870,627,000 after buying an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $581.30 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $602.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $571.95. The stock has a market cap of $45.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The firm’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.10%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.02%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 acquisition, the chief executive officer now 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports 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. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective for the company. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $645.67.

MSCI 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.