Segment Wealth Management LLC Grows Stake in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Segment Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 6.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 3,756 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 231 shares during the quarter. Segment Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,166,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the first quarter valued at $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 136.4% in the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 52 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Steph & Co. acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the second quarter worth about $35,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 50.0% in the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 66 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA raised its position in shares of MSCI by 355.6% in the first quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA now owns 82 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $560.95 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.33. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $563.68 and its 200 day moving average price is $559.54.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. The company had revenue of $772.68 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.06 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.64 EPS. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 47.68%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 84 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $548.69 per share, with a total value of $46,089.96. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,296,314.19. The trade was a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders have bought a total of 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599 over the last quarter. 3.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSCI. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of MSCI from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 price target for the company in a research report on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $652.45.

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.