Salvus Wealth Management LLC Has $482,000 Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Salvus Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 803 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $482,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Ritholtz Wealth Management lifted its position in MSCI by 5.8% during the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 659 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $395,000 after acquiring an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Essex Savings Bank bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $203,000. Alken Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter worth approximately $660,000. Burney Co. boosted its stake in MSCI by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Burney Co. now owns 1,251 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $751,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the period. Finally, Park Avenue Securities LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 9.2% in the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE:MSCI opened at $609.49 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $602.89 and its 200 day simple moving average is $572.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.77 billion, a PE ratio of 40.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.45 earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders 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 1.05%. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 42.02%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on MSCI. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $645.67.

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.