TRUE Private Wealth Advisors Increases Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

TRUE Private Wealth Advisors lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 33.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 741 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 187 shares during the quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors’ holdings in MSCI were worth $419,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Schechter Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at $434,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 6.8% during the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,340 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,324,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its position in shares of MSCI by 19.2% during the 4th quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 218,623 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $124,786,000 after buying an additional 35,277 shares in the last quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd raised its position in shares of MSCI by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter. Alphinity Investment Management Pty Ltd now owns 430,676 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $220,971,000 after buying an additional 12,495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 13,659.5% during the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 10,182 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,759,000 after buying an additional 10,108 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSCI. Edward Jones began coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $544.00 to $617.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Friday, April 12th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $581.57.

MSCI Trading Down 0.3 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $511.83 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $451.55 and a 12 month high of $617.39. The stock has a market cap of $40.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.54, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 1.06. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $555.25 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $539.07.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The technology company reported $3.68 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.29 by $0.39. MSCI had a net margin of 45.42% and a negative return on equity of 111.17%. The business had revenue of $690.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $662.64 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $2.84 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 19.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were given a $1.60 dividend. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 44.44%.

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.