Focus Partners Wealth Raises Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Focus Partners Wealth increased its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 225.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 22,451 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 15,547 shares during the quarter. Focus Partners Wealth's holdings in MSCI were worth $13,471,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 492 shares of the technology company's stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,044 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares during the last quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 575 shares of the technology company's stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC now owns 3,325 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,995,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Weaver Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Weaver Capital Management LLC now owns 712 shares of the technology company's stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 21 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 289,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. The trade was a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock traded down $4.15 during trading on Friday, hitting $571.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 786,852 shares, compared to its average volume of 525,686. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. The stock's fifty day moving average is $549.55 and its 200 day moving average is $579.18. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $475.32 and a 1-year high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $745.83 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $746.45 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. On average, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 49.48%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI cut their price target on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $645.36.

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.