CWA Asset Management Group LLC Boosts Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 418 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $251,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 119.9% during the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 10,929 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,262,000 after buying an additional 5,959 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $112,000. Choreo LLC purchased a new position in MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,137,000. Andra AP fonden bought a new stake in MSCI in the second quarter valued at approximately $4,866,000. Finally, Angeles Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the second quarter valued at approximately $214,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Redburn Atlantic raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $645.67.

MSCI Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $602.23 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $47.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $602.60 and its 200-day moving average price is $569.53.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.06%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 42.02%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI 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.