MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Holdings Lifted by Fortis Capital Management LLC

Fortis Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,227 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 151 shares during the quarter. Fortis Capital Management LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $4,936,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSCI. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at $185,003,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at $126,082,000. Canoe Financial LP boosted its position in MSCI by 700.4% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 186,131 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $111,680,000 after purchasing an additional 162,877 shares during the last quarter. Fisher Funds Management LTD acquired a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at $82,722,000. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in MSCI by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $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 Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $562.98 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $581.93 and a 200 day moving average price of $588.65. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $43.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.04, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced 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 quarter in the prior year, the business posted $3.68 earnings per share. Analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays decreased their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.