4,050 Shares in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Purchased by Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s.

Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. acquired a new stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 4,050 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,430,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. LRI Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 120.0% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at about $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $562.01 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $43.64 billion, a PE ratio of 39.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $590.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $589.82.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 period in the prior year, the company posted $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently 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.