Ritholtz Wealth Management Acquires 36 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCIFree Report) by 5.8% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 659 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management’s holdings in MSCI were worth $395,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Essex Savings Bank bought a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter worth approximately $203,000. Alken Asset Management Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter worth $660,000. Burney Co. grew its position in shares of MSCI by 8.7% during the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 1,251 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $751,000 after buying an additional 100 shares in the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 3,121 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,873,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the period. Finally, Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 15.6% in the fourth quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 667 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $400,000 after acquiring an additional 90 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have issued reports on MSCI. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.85.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on MSCI

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE:MSCI opened at $617.34 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $604.24 and a 200-day moving average price of $576.09. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $48.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.53, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCIGet Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The business had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

MSCI Profile

(Free Report)

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.

See Also

Institutional Ownership by Quarter for MSCI (NYSE:MSCI)

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