Opes Wealth Management LLC Buys Shares of 1,600 MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Opes Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 1,600 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $905,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Ritholtz Wealth Management boosted its stake in MSCI by 23.2% during the 1st 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 holdings in MSCI by 336.4% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 96 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 74 shares in the last quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 43.4% during the fourth quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund now owns 78,111 shares of the technology company's stock worth $46,867,000 after buying an additional 23,649 shares in the last quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 6.5% in the first quarter. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC now owns 524 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $296,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares during the period. Finally, Rathbones Group PLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 59,741 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $35,845,000 after purchasing an additional 2,123 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price 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. Bank of America started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price target for the company. Raymond James Financial raised shares of MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price objective for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $650.17.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total transaction of $2,762,950.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer owned 289,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at $160,133,398.33. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.6%

Shares of MSCI traded up $3.18 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $546.49. 998,785 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 580,767. The company has a market cap of $42.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.32. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $486.73 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The firm's fifty day moving average is $564.87 and its 200 day moving average is $566.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. The business had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.06 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%. MSCI's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.64 EPS. Analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.48%.

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.