Wealthspire Advisors LLC Buys 186 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Wealthspire Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 18.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,171 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 186 shares during the quarter. Wealthspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $675,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,376,852 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,302,610,000 after purchasing an additional 518,833 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 355.7% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 660,690 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $365,976,000 after purchasing an additional 515,713 shares during the period. Magellan Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in MSCI during the second quarter worth about $175,912,000. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. bought a new position in MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at about $119,408,000. Finally, Nuveen LLC bought a new position in MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at about $117,879,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE MSCI opened at $562.03 on Friday. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $42.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 35.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 1.34. The business’s fifty day moving average is $562.90 and its 200 day moving average is $563.35.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, October 28th. The technology company reported $4.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.37 by $0.10. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 110.94% and a net margin of 40.03%.The business had revenue of $793.43 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $794.87 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $3.86 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback plan on Tuesday, October 28th that allows the company to repurchase $3.00 billion in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to purchase up to 7.1% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are often an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, November 28th. Investors of record on Friday, November 14th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, November 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday. Barclays upped their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. Seaport Res Ptn upgraded MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on MSCI from $533.00 to $570.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on MSCI from $655.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $655.90.

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.