Proficio Capital Partners LLC Takes $126.08 Million Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 210,133 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $126,082,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC owned 0.27% of MSCI at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Walter Public Investments Inc. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 18.5% in the fourth quarter. Walter Public Investments Inc. now owns 23,265 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $13,959,000 after acquiring an additional 3,634 shares during the period. SRN Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.0% in the fourth quarter. SRN Advisors LLC now owns 2,505 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,503,000 after acquiring an additional 97 shares during the period. Whipplewood Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at $75,000. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 4.1% in the 4th quarter. Kirtland Hills Capital Management LLC now owns 3,993 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,396,000 after buying an additional 159 shares during the period. Finally, FFT Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth about $296,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays reduced their price target 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, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE:MSCI opened at $581.09 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $594.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $588.93.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period in the previous year, the company posted $3.68 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $1.80 dividend. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.