Victory Capital Management Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 55,389 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,710 shares during the period. Victory Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $33,234,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in MSCI by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 497,926 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $298,761,000 after buying an additional 13,915 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC now owns 7,630 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,578,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares during the period. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,219 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $710,000 after purchasing an additional 49 shares during the period. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 7.4% in the fourth quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. now owns 4,785 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $2,871,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares during the period. Finally, LGT Group Foundation boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. LGT Group Foundation now owns 9,459 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,675,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI opened at $562.01 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The company’s fifty day moving average is $590.02 and its two-hundred day moving average is $590.20.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. Sell-side 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.28%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired 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 ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MSCI. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

MSCI 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.