Assetmark Inc. Purchases 690 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Assetmark Inc. raised its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 11.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 6,938 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 690 shares during the quarter. Assetmark Inc.'s holdings in MSCI were worth $4,163,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. State Street Corp lifted its stake in MSCI by 0.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,860,925,000 after buying an additional 11,351 shares in the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 16.9% in the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,279,904,000 after purchasing an additional 318,214 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,862,362 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,082,594,000 after purchasing an additional 13,691 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company's stock worth $967,820,000 after purchasing an additional 119,471 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 14.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company's stock worth $925,531,000 after purchasing an additional 198,666 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

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MSCI Trading Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI traded down $4.28 on Friday, hitting $562.01. The company had a trading volume of 710,380 shares, compared to its average volume of 521,586. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $43.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $590.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $590.00.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 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 in the prior year, the company earned $3.68 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 an increase from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI's payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the topic of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $649.23.

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.