Crewe Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Crewe Advisors LLC purchased a new position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 60 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $34,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,719,381 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $4,886,777,000 after acquiring an additional 36,043 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 9.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 1,725,215 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $976,009,000 after acquiring an additional 151,108 shares in the last quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.8% in the first quarter. Sustainable Growth Advisers LP now owns 1,323,058 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $741,508,000 after acquiring an additional 23,217 shares in the last quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,038,761 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $587,575,000 after buying an additional 44,234 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $496,541,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group increased their price objective on MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $613.00 to $569.00 in a report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays increased their price objective on MSCI from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $589.79.

MSCI Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of MSCI traded up $4.29 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $538.49. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 586,389 shares, compared to its average volume of 591,706. The stock has a market cap of $42.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.76, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 1.10. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $494.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $524.57. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $696.41 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 139.63% and a net margin of 43.86%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.26 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.68 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 30th. Investors of record on Friday, August 16th will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.19%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total transaction of $4,245,210.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSCI Company 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.