WJ Wealth Management LLC Takes $282,000 Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

WJ Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 600 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $282,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in MSCI by 3.0% during the 1st quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,771,308 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,789,834,000 after acquiring an additional 194,995 shares in the last quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. lifted its stake in MSCI by 59.7% during the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 2,382,561 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,108,296,000 after purchasing an additional 890,554 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 27.3% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 2,182,687 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,015,320,000 after purchasing an additional 467,592 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 2.2% during the 1st quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,637,256 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $914,510,000 after purchasing an additional 35,746 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 32.1% in the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,281,834 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $717,432,000 after purchasing an additional 311,370 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 88.61% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded up $2.40 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $532.48. 73,393 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 464,497. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $530.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $510.83. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $385.00 and a 52 week high of $572.50. The firm has a market cap of $42.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 46.46, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.13.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 25th. The technology company reported $3.26 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.11 by $0.15. MSCI had a net margin of 39.02% and a negative return on equity of 93.06%. The company had revenue of $621.16 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $602.47 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $2.78 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 13.12 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, August 31st. Investors of record on Friday, August 11th were issued a $1.38 dividend. This represents a $5.52 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, August 10th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 48.38%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 1,478 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $520.00, for a total transaction of $768,560.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the general counsel now owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at $7,893,080. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 1,800 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 27th. The stock was sold at an average price of $555.89, for a total transaction of $1,000,602.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,274 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,158,333.86. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, General Counsel Robert J. Gutowski sold 1,478 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $520.00, for a total value of $768,560.00. Following the completion of the sale, the general counsel now directly owns 15,179 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,893,080. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.08% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $510.00 to $582.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 26th. Barclays boosted their price objective on MSCI from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $640.00 in a report on Wednesday, July 26th. StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, August 17th. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Raymond James lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $574.00 to $592.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 26th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $564.14.

MSCI Profile

MSCI Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides investment decision support tools for the clients to manage their investment processes worldwide. It operates through four segments: Index, Analytics, ESG and Climate, and All Other Private Assets. The Index segment provides indexes for use in various areas of the investment process, including indexed product creation, such as ETFs, mutual funds, annuities, futures, options, structured products, over-the-counter derivatives; performance benchmarking; portfolio construction and rebalancing; and asset allocation, as well as licenses GICS and GICS Direct.