Empower Advisory Group LLC Has $11.28 Million Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Empower Advisory Group LLC cut its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,796 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 76 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $11,278,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Creative Planning lifted its stake in MSCI by 15.6% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,090 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,465,000 after buying an additional 1,499 shares during the period. V Square Quantitative Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 16.7% during the 3rd quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 510 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $297,000 after acquiring an additional 73 shares in the last quarter. Aaron Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in MSCI during the third quarter worth $223,000. Raymond James & Associates lifted its position in MSCI by 5.4% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 127,021 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $74,044,000 after buying an additional 6,564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castleview Partners LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 53.7% during the third quarter. Castleview Partners LLC now owns 773 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $451,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group decreased their price target on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

MSCI Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $572.78 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $44.89 billion, a PE ratio of 40.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $601.53 and a 200-day moving average price of $586.86.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 45.52%.

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.