WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. Acquires 605 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. increased its stake in MSCI Inc by 20.5%, owning a total of 3,562 shares valued at approximately $2.05 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 84 shares of MSCI stock at an average price of $548.69, raising his total ownership to nearly 1.28 million shares worth around $702 million.
• MSCI recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 1.3% and a dividend payout ratio of 47.68%.

WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc. grew its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 20.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,562 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 605 shares during the quarter. WealthBridge Investment Counsel Inc.'s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,054,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Sunbelt Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 15.4% during the first quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 142 shares of the technology company's stock worth $80,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 3.8% during the first quarter. Optivise Advisory Services LLC now owns 540 shares of the technology company's stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 5.9% during the first quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 361 shares of the technology company's stock worth $204,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 16.8% during the first quarter. Whipplewood Advisors LLC now owns 146 shares of the technology company's stock worth $83,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Salvus Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 2.6% during the first quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 824 shares of the technology company's stock worth $466,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSCI. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $652.45.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 9,916 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $544.70 per share, with a total value of $5,401,245.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,867 shares in the company, valued at approximately $697,143,554.90. This trade represents a 0.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have acquired a total of 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599 over the last ninety days. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

MSCI Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $0.96 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $567.10. 347,630 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 619,755. The business has a 50 day moving average of $562.63 and a two-hundred day moving average of $558.88. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $486.73 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $43.87 billion, a PE ratio of 37.59, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.34.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. The company had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.64 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.68%.

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.