Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Increases Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 3,906 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 28 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,277,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth $27,000. LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 120.0% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $585.51 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $45.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.44, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The company has a 50-day moving average of $602.35 and a 200-day moving average of $572.69.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.09%. MSCI’s payout ratio is 42.02%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $645.67.

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.