SRS Capital Advisors Inc. Purchases 21 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. grew its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 21.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 117 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $70,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. LRI Investments LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 120.0% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new position in MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MSCI Stock Down 1.2 %

MSCI stock opened at $565.84 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $43.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.24, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $590.97 and its 200-day simple moving average is $589.81.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.68 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

MSCI 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.