Apollon Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 26.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,768 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 580 shares during the period. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,566,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth $26,000. ORG Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 5,600.0% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth $30,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth $51,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 23.5% during the fourth quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 100 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 19 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSCI. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on MSCI in a research note on Tuesday, March 26th. They issued a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Redburn Atlantic cut MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price target for the company from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. StockNews.com cut MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 31st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $569.53.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock remained flat at $471.40 on Wednesday. The stock had a trading volume of 201,815 shares, compared to its average volume of 572,299. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.34 billion, a PE ratio of 31.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.09. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $617.39. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $528.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $536.16.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. MSCI’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.14 earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.36%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 43.69%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $471.69, for a total value of $4,245,210.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 12,831 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other MSCI news, insider Scott A. Crum sold 9,000 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the insider now owns 12,831 shares in the company, valued at $6,052,254.39. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit purchased 7,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.