Marks Group Wealth Management Inc Acquires 598 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Marks Group Wealth Management Inc grew its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,563 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 598 shares during the period. MSCI comprises approximately 1.3% of Marks Group Wealth Management Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc’s holdings in MSCI were worth $12,938,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. LRI Investments LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 120.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at $40,000. Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

MSCI Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $577.72 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $604.66 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $585.99. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.09, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS 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 last year, the company earned $3.68 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 45.52%.

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.