Merit Financial Group LLC Has $1.80 Million Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Merit Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 76.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,992 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,295 shares during the period. Merit Financial Group LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,795,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in MSCI by 15.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 254,415 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $122,577,000 after purchasing an additional 34,351 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV increased its position in MSCI by 12.2% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 2,669 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,246,000 after purchasing an additional 291 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its position in MSCI by 21.9% in the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,456 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,665,000 after purchasing an additional 620 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 4.5% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 5,614 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,705,000 after purchasing an additional 240 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Summit Trail Advisors LLC increased its position in MSCI by 34.0% in the 2nd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 686 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $331,000 after purchasing an additional 174 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $612.25 on Tuesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $603.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $575.23. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $47.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.20, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. The company had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.45 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.99 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have weighed in on MSCI shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group decreased their price target on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Evercore ISI began coverage on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 price target for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $645.67.

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.