Wells Fargo & Company MN Has $56.54 Million Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Wells Fargo & Company MN lifted its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 99,954 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 2,847 shares during the quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned about 0.13% of MSCI worth $56,539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $200,000. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 91.4% during the fourth quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,278 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,288,000 after acquiring an additional 1,088 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in MSCI by 20.2% during the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 564,318 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $319,206,000 after acquiring an additional 94,658 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $496,541,000. Finally, ING Groep NV boosted its stake in MSCI by 18.5% during the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 14,866 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $8,409,000 after acquiring an additional 2,320 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America raised shares of MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $425.00 to $525.00 in a research note on Tuesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer reissued a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $485.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Monday, May 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $570.53.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI opened at $493.00 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $512.16 and its 200 day moving average is $536.55. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $617.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.65, a PEG ratio of 2.54 and a beta of 1.09.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. The business had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.14 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.30%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total transaction of $4,245,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 12,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,052,254.39. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About MSCI

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.