Toth Financial Advisory Corp Grows Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Toth Financial Advisory Corp grew its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 884 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 27 shares during the quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp’s holdings in MSCI were worth $530,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Benin Management CORP lifted its position in MSCI by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. Benin Management CORP now owns 1,598 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $959,000 after acquiring an additional 384 shares in the last quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 14.8% during the fourth quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 2,064 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,238,000 after purchasing an additional 266 shares in the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 57.7% in the fourth quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 1,484 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $890,000 after purchasing an additional 543 shares during the period. Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 52.0% during the 4th quarter. Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC now owns 8,534 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,120,000 after purchasing an additional 2,919 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Apeiron RIA LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 13.6% during the 4th quarter. Apeiron RIA LLC now owns 768 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $461,000 after buying an additional 92 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $620.22 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.61 billion, a PE ratio of 40.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $605.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $578.36.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The business’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.45 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.99 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were paid a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is 42.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on MSCI. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.85.

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.