Independent Advisor Alliance Purchases 134 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Independent Advisor Alliance grew its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 27.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 623 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in MSCI were worth $374,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. LRI Investments LLC raised its position in MSCI by 120.0% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new position in MSCI during the 4th quarter worth $41,000. Private Trust Co. NA raised its position in MSCI by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd raised its position in MSCI by 122.7% during the 4th quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $59,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $568.48 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $44.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $583.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $588.95.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 prior year, the company posted $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s payout ratio is 51.21%.

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.