Marks Group Wealth Management Inc Acquires 598 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Marks Group Wealth Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 21,563 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 598 shares during the quarter. MSCI accounts for 1.3% of Marks Group Wealth Management Inc’s holdings, making the stock its 12th biggest holding. Marks Group Wealth Management Inc’s holdings in MSCI were worth $12,938,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Edgewood Management LLC raised its position in MSCI by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after purchasing an additional 318,214 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 14.3% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $925,531,000 after buying an additional 198,666 shares during the period. Canoe Financial LP raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 700.4% in the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 186,131 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $111,680,000 after acquiring an additional 162,877 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in MSCI by 358.3% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 133,636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $77,900,000 after acquiring an additional 104,474 shares during the period. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth about $56,101,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Down 1.0 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $577.72 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $604.66 and a 200 day moving average price of $585.99. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.09, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted 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 net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 45.52%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays reduced their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI 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.