MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Bought by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 19.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,012 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $590,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. LRI Investments LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 120.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at about $40,000. Planning Capital Management Corp increased its position in MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA raised its stake in MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

MSCI Stock Down 0.5 %

MSCI stock opened at $590.36 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $606.80 and its two-hundred day moving average is $581.51. The firm has a market cap of $46.27 billion, a PE ratio of 38.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.68 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.22%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

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.