WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. Raises Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 45.2% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,957 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 920 shares during the quarter. WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,672,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in MSCI by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $312,574,000 after acquiring an additional 23,050 shares in the last quarter. Trust Point Inc. purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $220,000. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $205,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. boosted its stake in MSCI by 35.6% in the 4th quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 6,773 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,125,000 after purchasing an additional 1,778 shares during the period. Finally, Choreo LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 33.8% in the 4th quarter. Choreo LLC now owns 3,712 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,226,000 after purchasing an additional 938 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Oppenheimer restated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Bank of America began coverage on MSCI in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price target on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $645.36.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total transaction of $2,762,950.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 289,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $568.66 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $550.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $576.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $475.32 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.12. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. The company had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. MSCI’s payout ratio is 49.48%.

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.