MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Purchased by Ghe LLC

Ghe LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 3.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,670 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. MSCI comprises 1.3% of Ghe LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 15th largest holding. Ghe LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $3,305,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Edgewood Management LLC grew its holdings in MSCI by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after buying an additional 318,214 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in MSCI by 14.3% during the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $925,531,000 after buying an additional 198,666 shares during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP grew its holdings in MSCI by 700.4% during the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 186,131 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $111,680,000 after buying an additional 162,877 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at $82,722,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $967,820,000 after purchasing an additional 119,471 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $578.71 on Monday. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.16, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $596.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $588.40.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a $1.80 dividend. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays decreased their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

MSCI Company 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.