MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Position Raised by Federated Hermes Inc.

Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 34.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 119,588 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,722 shares during the quarter. Federated Hermes Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $71,754,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nutshell Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at $9,610,000. Russell Investments Group Ltd. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 37.3% in the 4th quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 339,526 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $203,710,000 after acquiring an additional 92,213 shares during the last quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 44.4% in the 4th quarter. Wedbush Securities Inc. now owns 533 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $320,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at about $876,000. Finally, Resona Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $14,683,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays cut their price objective on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised 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 report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $647.31.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $507.57 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $572.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $588.66. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $39.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 last year, the company posted $3.68 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.80 dividend. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.