MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Position Raised by Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC

Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 6.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,044 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 59 shares during the quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $626,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. LRI Investments LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 120.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth $40,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. UBS Group dropped their price target on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, September 13th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $645.67.

MSCI Stock Down 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI traded down $19.46 on Friday, reaching $582.77. The company had a trading volume of 83,705 shares, compared to its average volume of 320,169. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $602.60 and a 200 day moving average price of $569.53. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 42.02%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.