Palumbo Wealth Management LLC Buys 442 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Palumbo Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 14.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,462 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 442 shares during the quarter. Palumbo Wealth Management LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $2,077,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. LRI Investments LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 120.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth about $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp increased its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company's stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $649.23.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI traded up $1.49 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $574.18. 608,962 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, 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 company has a market cap of $44.58 billion, a PE ratio of 40.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $599.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $587.27.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.68 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity

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

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.