McHugh Group LLC Acquires New Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

McHugh Group LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund acquired 375 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LRI Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Planning Capital Management Corp grew its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing 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

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MSCI shares. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $581.98 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50-day moving average of $606.59 and a 200 day moving average of $584.53. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (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 last year, the company posted $3.68 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.85 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s payout ratio is 45.52%.

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.