SYM FINANCIAL Corp Acquires Shares of 496 MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

SYM FINANCIAL Corp acquired a new position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 496 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $298,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. LRI Investments LLC lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. 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. Planning Capital Management Corp raised its holdings in 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. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price 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. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost 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 directly owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $596.83 on Monday. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $607.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $582.76. The company has a market cap of $46.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.45, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 168.58% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.68 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.91 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.52%.

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.