MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Acquired by Czech National Bank

Czech National Bank boosted its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 6.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 16,993 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 972 shares during the period. Czech National Bank’s holdings in MSCI were worth $10,196,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 1,266 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $760,000 after acquiring an additional 27 shares in the last quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. ORG Wealth Partners LLC now owns 807 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $484,000 after purchasing an additional 66 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,906 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,277,000 after buying an additional 28 shares during the last quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 6.0% in the fourth quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 1,044 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $626,000 after buying an additional 59 shares during the last quarter. Finally, One Wealth Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $774,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on MSCI. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Evercore ISI began coverage on MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $645.67.

MSCI Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $581.30 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $602.40 and a 200 day moving average price of $571.95. The company has a market cap of $45.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.10%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was 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 owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.