RFG Advisory LLC Raises Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

RFG Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 21.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,041 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 187 shares during the quarter. RFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $589,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Bamco Inc. NY raised its position in MSCI by 0.7% during the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,260,105 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,159,615,000 after purchasing an additional 15,184 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,893,728 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $971,634,000 after buying an additional 30,528 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 2.2% in the first quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,637,256 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $914,510,000 after buying an additional 35,746 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in MSCI by 14.0% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,460,634 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $749,422,000 after buying an additional 179,508 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in MSCI by 32.1% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 1,281,834 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $717,432,000 after acquiring an additional 311,370 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Oppenheimer lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $659.00 to $648.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Barclays upped their target price on MSCI from $600.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price target on MSCI from $544.00 to $617.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Finally, Edward Jones began coverage on MSCI in a research report on Friday, December 22nd. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $581.57.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $534.85 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $451.55 and a 1-year high of $617.39. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $560.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $538.90. The company has a market capitalization of $42.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.14, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.06.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, January 30th. The technology company reported $3.68 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.29 by $0.39. MSCI had a net margin of 45.42% and a negative return on equity of 111.17%. The firm had revenue of $690.11 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $662.64 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $2.84 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 19.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.84 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, February 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 16th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, February 15th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.38. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 44.44%.

MSCI Company 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.