MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Stake Boosted by Verdence Capital Advisors LLC

Verdence Capital Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,700 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 33 shares during the quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,220,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. LRI Investments LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 120.0% in 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 in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new position in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp grew its holdings in MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

MSCI Stock Up 0.9 %

MSCI opened at $572.61 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $44.46 billion, a PE ratio of 40.73, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $591.88 and a 200-day simple moving average of $589.97. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value 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. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

About MSCI

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.