361 Shares in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Acquired by Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC

Wellspring Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 361 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $217,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. LRI Investments LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 120.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 54 shares during the period. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter worth about $60,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 46.8% in the 4th quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 113 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $68,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. Barclays decreased their target price on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective 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 upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $647.31.

MSCI Stock Down 6.7 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $507.57 on Monday. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $572.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $588.66. The company has a market cap of $39.41 billion, a PE ratio of 36.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 firm posted $3.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price 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 $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

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.