Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Buys 5,698 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. boosted its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 58.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 15,400 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,698 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $9,240,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $870,627,000 after acquiring an additional 37,340 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. acquired a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in MSCI by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 1,471 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $857,000 after acquiring an additional 50 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in MSCI by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 732 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 6.3% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 17,534 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $10,221,000 after acquiring an additional 1,046 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were 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 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 purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSCI Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE MSCI opened at $565.72 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $582.19 and its 200-day moving average is $588.67. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $43.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19.

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

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors 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 yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.

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.