MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Acquired by Apollon Wealth Management LLC

Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 45.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,012 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,559 shares during the quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $3,007,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LRI Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the 3rd 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 stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI during the third quarter worth about $40,000. Planning Capital Management Corp raised its stake in MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $579.13 on Monday. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $45.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.11. The company has a 50 day moving average of $605.17 and a 200 day moving average of $585.31.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (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 company posted $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 firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 45.52%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSCI. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group cut their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

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.