LPL Financial LLC Has $26.73 Million Stake in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Key Points

• LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in MSCI Inc by 4.1% to approximately $26.7 million, owning 47,267 shares after purchasing an additional 1,863 shares in the first quarter.
• MSCI's CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 84 shares at about $548.69 each, increasing his holdings to around $702 million.
• Analysts have recently upgraded MSCI's ratings, with Raymond James Financial raising it to "outperform" and a targeted price of $650.00, notably amidst favorable earnings reports.

LPL Financial LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 4.1% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 47,267 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 1,863 shares during the period. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.06% of MSCI worth $26,729,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in MSCI by 16,353.6% in the 4th quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 587,557 shares of the technology company's stock worth $352,539,000 after purchasing an additional 583,986 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 61,179.6% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,557 shares of the technology company's stock worth $285,892,000 after buying an additional 504,732 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 3,881.3% during the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 419,429 shares of the technology company's stock worth $251,662,000 after purchasing an additional 408,894 shares during the last quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its holdings in MSCI by 605,802.9% in the first quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 212,066 shares of the technology company's stock worth $129,903,000 after purchasing an additional 212,031 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raiffeisen Bank International AG acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth approximately $103,424,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 9,916 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $544.70 per share, with a total value of $5,401,245.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,867 shares in the company, valued at $697,143,554.90. This represents a 0.78% 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 this hyperlink. Insiders have purchased a total of 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599 in the last ninety days. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSCI. Evercore ISI dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. UBS Group lifted their price target on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MSCI has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $654.73.

MSCI Stock Down 1.8%

NYSE MSCI traded down $10.31 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $547.42. The company had a trading volume of 1,064,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 998,048. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $563.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $564.41. The firm has a market cap of $42.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 1.29. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $486.73 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share 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 business 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 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

MSCI 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.