Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Boosts Position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 105.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,762 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 7,063 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $7,783,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,456 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,136,563,000 after buying an additional 35,094 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $609,937,000. FMR LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 3.1% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 853,452 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $512,079,000 after purchasing an additional 25,325 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its position in MSCI by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 784,490 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $470,702,000 after acquiring an additional 48,524 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 583,986 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $575.02 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.33. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $478.33 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $554.79 and a 200-day moving average of $572.26.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 16th. MSCI's payout ratio is 49.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total value of $2,762,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 289,787 shares in the company, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on MSCI. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI reduced their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" 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 research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three research 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 presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target 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.

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