Crestwood Advisors Group LLC Boosts Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Crestwood Advisors Group LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 11.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 492 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 50 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $295,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in shares of MSCI by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 2,071 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,243,000 after buying an additional 85 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,955,000. World Equity Group Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 106.2% in the fourth quarter. World Equity Group Inc. now owns 1,264 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $758,000 after buying an additional 651 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at about $82,722,000. Finally, Sigma Planning Corp raised its position in shares of MSCI by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. Sigma Planning Corp now owns 646 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $388,000 after buying an additional 32 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $584.55 on Wednesday. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $45.39 billion, a PE ratio of 41.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $594.80 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $589.05.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.23%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on MSCI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

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.