LVW Advisors LLC Purchases 412 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

LVW Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 41.6% during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,402 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the period. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $817,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the first quarter worth $26,000. Rothschild Investment LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter valued at about $26,000. HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the second quarter worth about $27,000. Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the first quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Ridgewood Investments LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the second quarter valued at approximately $40,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI opened at $605.78 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $617.39. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $566.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $524.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.57, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 23rd. The technology company reported $3.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.55 by $0.09. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.09% and a net margin of 43.86%. The company had revenue of $707.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $696.41 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 14.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.8 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 16th were given a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.06%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.87%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday. Argus lifted their price target on MSCI from $520.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on MSCI from $615.00 to $640.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Friday, September 13th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $614.14.

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.