462 Shares in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) Purchased by Founders Financial Alliance LLC

Key Points

• Founders Financial Alliance LLC purchased 462 shares of MSCI Inc, valuing approximately $261,000, marking a new position in the company during the first quarter.
• Multiple institutional investors increased their stakes in MSCI, indicating strong interest in the technology company, which now sees over 89.97% of its shares owned by institutional investors.
• MSCI announced a quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share, with a payout ratio of 47.68%, set to be paid on August 29th.

Founders Financial Alliance LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 462 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $261,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Sunbelt Securities Inc. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 15.4% during the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 142 shares of the technology company's stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.8% in the first quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 540 shares of the technology company's stock worth $306,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 361 shares of the technology company's stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 146 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $83,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Salvus Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 824 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $466,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the subject of several analyst reports. UBS Group upped their target price 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. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 target price on the stock in a report on Friday, July 25th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $654.73.

MSCI Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $546.73 on Friday. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $562.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $562.99. MSCI Inc has a 12-month low of $486.73 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $42.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.21, a PEG ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.12 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $772.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $763.06 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.64 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.68%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 84 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $548.69 per share, for a total transaction of $46,089.96. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $702,296,314.19. This trade represents a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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