Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. Has $32.68 Million Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 19.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 54,469 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 8,919 shares during the quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. owned about 0.07% of MSCI worth $32,682,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of MSCI. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at about $372,000. Perigon Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 575 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 5.9% during the fourth quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 10,476 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,286,000 after purchasing an additional 579 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 66.6% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,732 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,839,000 after purchasing an additional 3,890 shares during the last quarter. Finally, KBC Group NV boosted its stake in MSCI by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 12,471 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,483,000 after purchasing an additional 263 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have weighed in on MSCI. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Redburn Atlantic upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $590.36 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $46.27 billion, a PE ratio of 38.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $606.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $581.51.

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 in the previous year, the firm earned $3.68 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 14.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

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

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.