FourThought Financial Partners LLC Buys 2,218 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

FourThought Financial Partners LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 37.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,144 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,218 shares during the period. FourThought Financial Partners LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $4,887,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. LRI Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in MSCI in the third quarter worth about $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its position in MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Down 0.9 %

MSCI stock opened at $573.31 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.52 billion, a PE ratio of 40.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $595.34 and a 200-day moving average price of $588.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 previous year, the company posted $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.21%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was 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 owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

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.