Wrapmanager Inc. Has $853,000 Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Wrapmanager Inc. cut its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 17.1% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,422 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 294 shares during the quarter. Wrapmanager Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $853,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of 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 acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in MSCI during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at about $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

MSCI Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $573.31 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $44.52 billion, a PE ratio of 40.78, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $595.34 and a 200 day moving average of $588.70.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.26%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.

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.