858 Shares in MSCI Inc $MSCI Acquired by Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC

Key Points

• Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC invested approximately $485,000 in MSCI Inc by acquiring 858 shares during the 1st quarter, according to a recent SEC filing.
• The CEO, Henry A. Fernandez, purchased 9,916 shares of MSCI at about $544.70 each, increasing his ownership by 0.78% to 1,279,867 shares.
• Analysts have varied target price updates for MSCI, with UBS raising their forecast to $700.00 while Wells Fargo reduced theirs to $533.00, maintaining MSCI's consensus rating at "Moderate Buy."

Kaufman Rossin Wealth LLC purchased a new position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 858 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $485,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its position in shares of MSCI by 23.2% in the first quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 812 shares of the technology company's stock worth $459,000 after purchasing an additional 153 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 336.4% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 96 shares of the technology company's stock worth $54,000 after purchasing an additional 74 shares during the period. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 6.5% in the first quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 524 shares of the technology company's stock worth $296,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter worth $556,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 8.4% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 894 shares of the technology company's stock worth $506,000 after purchasing an additional 69 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of MSCI stock traded up $6.3540 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $573.6240. 380,090 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 803,549. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $563.35 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $560.30. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $486.73 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $44.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.29.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.68%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on MSCI. UBS Group raised their price target on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Raymond James Financial raised MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $654.73.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 84 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $548.69 per share, with a total value of $46,089.96. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $702,296,314.19. This trade represents a 0.01% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders bought 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

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.