Wealth Alliance Makes New Investment in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Wealth Alliance purchased a new position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 580 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $279,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Rise Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 1st quarter worth approximately $26,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth $26,000. Crewe Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the first quarter worth $34,000. Ridgewood Investments LLC bought a new stake in MSCI in the 2nd quarter valued at $40,000. Finally, Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 36.1% in the 4th quarter. Carolinas Wealth Consulting LLC now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 26 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on MSCI shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on MSCI from $526.00 to $590.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 24th. Argus upped their price target on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $575.00 to $585.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised shares of MSCI to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $591.00.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $555.31 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $617.39. The stock has a market cap of $43.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.91, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 1.11. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $547.99 and its 200-day moving average is $521.93.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.55 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The firm had revenue of $707.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $696.41 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.26 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 14.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.15%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 43.69%.

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.