Level Four Advisory Services LLC Raises Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Level Four Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 7.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,585 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 633 shares during the period. Level Four Advisory Services LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $5,751,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 30.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $104,991,000 after acquiring an additional 41,346 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in MSCI by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $312,574,000 after acquiring an additional 23,050 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 176.2% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $921,000 after purchasing an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. Nvwm LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3,581.3% in the 4th quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,060,000 after purchasing an additional 1,719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 76.3% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

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MSCI Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of MSCI traded up $2.58 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $568.08. 142,987 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 553,333. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $44.11 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The company's 50-day moving average price is $577.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $588.96.

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

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. Barclays reduced their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $649.23.

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.