Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Boosts Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 57.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,484 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 543 shares during the period. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $890,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter worth about $870,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in MSCI by 37.7% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 11,295 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,441,000 after buying an additional 3,092 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in MSCI by 31.7% in the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 9,591 shares of the technology company's stock worth $4,620,000 after buying an additional 2,311 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 40.3% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 8,466 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $4,079,000 after acquiring an additional 2,430 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 511.9% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 2,888 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,391,000 after acquiring an additional 2,416 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $649.23.

MSCI Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of MSCI stock traded up $6.10 on Friday, reaching $596.83. The company's stock had a trading volume of 735,895 shares, compared to its average volume of 420,294. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $607.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $582.24. The company has a market capitalization of $46.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 42.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 168.58% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.91 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is an increase from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.21%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is 45.52%.

MSCI Company 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.