PFG Advisors Acquires 1,264 Shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

PFG Advisors grew its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 37.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,652 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,264 shares during the quarter. PFG Advisors' holdings in MSCI were worth $2,631,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSCI. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 50.0% in the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 66 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of MSCI by 293.8% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 122.6% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 69 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $42,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Bank of America assumed coverage on MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 target price for the company. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Raymond James Financial raised shares of MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $650.17.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock traded up $4.84 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $548.15. 538,553 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 577,185. MSCI Inc has a 52-week low of $486.73 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $564.87 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $566.70. The company has a market cap of $42.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.30, a PEG ratio of 2.63 and a beta of 1.32.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.12 by $0.05. The company 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%. MSCI's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.64 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.31%. MSCI's payout ratio is 49.48%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the business's 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 directly owned 289,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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.