Avanza Fonder AB Invests $3.31 Million in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Avanza Fonder AB bought a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 5,514 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $3,308,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Procyon Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 11.2% during the fourth quarter. Procyon Advisors LLC now owns 2,175 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,305,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter valued at about $278,000. Salvus Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Salvus Wealth Management LLC now owns 803 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $482,000 after buying an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its position in shares of MSCI by 5.8% in the fourth quarter. Ritholtz Wealth Management now owns 659 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $395,000 after purchasing an additional 36 shares during the period. Finally, Essex Savings Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $203,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group dropped their target price on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and upped their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $680.00 price target for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $645.67.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company's stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE:MSCI traded up $2.28 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $612.25. The stock had a trading volume of 311,715 shares, compared to its average volume of 343,033. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.20, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $603.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $574.07. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The company had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $716.15 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $3.45 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.99 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were given a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.05%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

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.