LPL Financial LLC Buys 5,350 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

LPL Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 13.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 45,404 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 5,350 shares during the quarter. LPL Financial LLC owned about 0.06% of MSCI worth $27,243,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. State Street Corp raised its stake in MSCI by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,860,925,000 after buying an additional 11,351 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.7% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,862,362 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,082,594,000 after acquiring an additional 13,691 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company's stock worth $967,820,000 after purchasing an additional 119,471 shares during the period. Fiera Capital Corp lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company's stock worth $689,180,000 after purchasing an additional 49,679 shares in the last quarter. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. grew its position in MSCI by 17.4% in the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 569,374 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $341,630,000 after purchasing an additional 84,354 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays cut their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $649.23.

MSCI Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE:MSCI traded up $1.74 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $569.04. 197,228 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 556,260. The business's 50-day moving average price is $576.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $588.99. The company has a market cap of $44.19 billion, a PE ratio of 40.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS 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 period in the prior year, the business posted $3.68 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. This is a boost from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI's payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

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.