Dakota Wealth Management Has $2.33 Million Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Dakota Wealth Management reduced its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,875 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 200 shares during the quarter. Dakota Wealth Management’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,325,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in MSCI. LRI Investments LLC increased its position in MSCI by 120.0% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. HWG Holdings LP acquired a new position in MSCI in the second quarter worth approximately $27,000. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.85.

MSCI Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $614.25 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $604.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $576.95. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The business had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 42.02%.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired 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 approximately $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.