WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. Raises Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 45.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 2,957 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 920 shares during the quarter. WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,672,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $312,574,000 after purchasing an additional 23,050 shares during the last quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund raised its stake in MSCI by 43.4% during the 4th 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 valued at $46,867,000 after buying an additional 23,649 shares during the last quarter. Rathbones Group PLC increased its position in MSCI by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 59,741 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $35,845,000 after acquiring an additional 2,123 shares during the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp increased its position in MSCI by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $689,180,000 after acquiring an additional 49,679 shares during the last quarter. Finally, NorthRock Partners LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at $556,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded up $4.59 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $568.66. The stock had a trading volume of 251,343 shares, compared to its average volume of 507,870. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $550.74 and a 200-day moving average of $576.56. The company has a market capitalization of $44.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $475.32 and a 12-month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $746.45 million. As a group, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 289,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at $160,133,398.33. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on MSCI shares. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 target price for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus 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.