Toth Financial Advisory Corp Buys 836 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Toth Financial Advisory Corp lifted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 94.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,720 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 836 shares during the quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp's holdings in MSCI were worth $973,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 293.8% in the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 122.6% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 69 shares of the technology company's stock worth $42,000 after buying an additional 38 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 147.2% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 89 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $50,000 after purchasing an additional 53 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The shares were 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 $160,133,398.33. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $13.23 during trading on Friday, hitting $541.96. 465,518 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 507,619. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $475.32 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $552.56 and its 200 day moving average price is $575.77.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released 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. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. The firm had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is presently 49.48%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

MSCI has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $645.36.

MSCI Company 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.