Strategic Financial Concepts LLC Purchases Shares of 53,402 MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Strategic Financial Concepts LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 53,402 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $32,042,000. MSCI comprises 1.0% of Strategic Financial Concepts LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC owned 0.07% of MSCI at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 30.0% during the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the technology company's stock worth $329,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $104,991,000 after purchasing an additional 41,346 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in MSCI by 4.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company's stock worth $312,574,000 after purchasing an additional 23,050 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 339.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,834 shares of the technology company's stock worth $15,642,000 after buying an additional 20,730 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 176.2% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $921,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the topic of a number of research reports. Barclays lowered their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group cut their target price on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $649.23.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE:MSCI traded up $1.49 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $574.18. The company had a trading volume of 608,962 shares, compared to its average volume of 548,602. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $599.50 and a 200 day moving average price of $587.27. The company has a market capitalization of $44.58 billion, a PE ratio of 40.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.68 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. This is an increase from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI's payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

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.