Sowell Financial Services LLC Makes New $334,000 Investment in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Sowell Financial Services LLC bought a new position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 591 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $334,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 8.9% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 256 shares of the technology company's stock worth $157,000 after buying an additional 21 shares during the period. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 117 shares of the technology company's stock worth $70,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 16.8% in the 1st quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 146 shares of the technology company's stock worth $83,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 824 shares of the technology company's stock worth $466,000 after acquiring an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aurora Investment Managers LLC. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 0.6% in the 1st quarter. Aurora Investment Managers LLC. now owns 3,754 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,123,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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 now owns 289,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented 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 price target for the company. Evercore ISI cut their price objective on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer restated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $645.36.

MSCI Stock Up 0.2%

Shares of MSCI stock traded up $1.07 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $544.79. 666,095 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 396,840. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.15 billion, a PE ratio of 34.74, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.33. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $478.33 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $554.33 and a 200 day moving average of $572.93.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $746.45 million. MSCI had a net margin of 39.08% and a negative return on equity of 145.52%. On average, equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Investors of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.32%. MSCI's payout ratio is 49.48%.

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.