NorthRock Partners LLC Grows Stake in MSCI Inc $MSCI

NorthRock Partners LLC lifted its position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 63.6% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,417 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 551 shares during the period. NorthRock Partners LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $817,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Olde Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 136.4% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 52 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the period. Steph & Co. acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at about $35,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 66 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, HWG Holdings LP acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at about $44,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 84 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $548.69 per share, with a total value of $46,089.96. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $702,296,314.19. This trade represents a 0.01% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. Seaport Res Ptn raised MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have issued a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $647.70.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI opened at $554.14 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $563.46 and a 200-day simple moving average of $559.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.33. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $763.06 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.64 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 47.68%.

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.