McHugh Group LLC Purchases New Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

McHugh Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 375 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $225,000.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. LRI Investments LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 120.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 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 valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MSCI. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Barclays lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $581.98 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $606.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $584.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.39, a PEG ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.68 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.85 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 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.