CW Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• CW Advisors LLC has acquired a new position in MSCI Inc, purchasing 10,561 shares valued at approximately $5.97 million.
• Various institutional investors have also increased their stakes in MSCI, with 89.97% of the company's stock now held by institutional shareholders.
• MSCI recently reported earnings of $4.17 EPS, exceeding expectations, alongside a quarterly dividend declaration of $1.80 per share scheduled for payment on August 29th.

CW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 10,561 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $5,972,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 5,053.6% during the fourth quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 30,406 shares of the technology company's stock worth $18,244,000 after purchasing an additional 29,816 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in MSCI by 2.1% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 267,049 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $160,234,000 after buying an additional 5,602 shares during the period. MML Investors Services LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 6,215 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,729,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 49.4% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,425 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,056,000 after buying an additional 2,787 shares during the period. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 79.3% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,245 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,347,000 after buying an additional 993 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $654.73.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 84 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was bought at an average price of $548.69 per share, with a total value of $46,089.96. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $702,296,314.19. The trade was a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders have acquired a total of 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599 over the last ninety days. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $0.61 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $570.82. 318,859 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 600,407. The business has a 50 day moving average of $564.37 and a two-hundred day moving average of $560.16. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $486.73 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $44.16 billion, a PE ratio of 37.80, a PEG ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.29.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.64 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

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.