Navellier & Associates Inc. Has $1.14 Million Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Navellier & Associates Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 31.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,896 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 449 shares during the period. Navellier & Associates Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,138,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. LRI Investments LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 120.0% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at about $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new stake in MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its holdings in MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $578.71 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.16, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $596.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $587.52. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45.

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

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $1.80 dividend. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

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.