Palumbo Wealth Management LLC Acquires 442 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Palumbo Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 14.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 3,462 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 442 shares during the quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,077,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LRI Investments LLC boosted its stake 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 purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the third quarter worth $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp grew its stake in MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays reduced their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group lowered their target price on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $572.78 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The company’s 50-day moving average is $601.53 and its 200 day moving average is $586.26.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 45.52%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.