Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 75.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,900 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 815 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI's holdings in MSCI were worth $1,140,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. LRI Investments LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 120.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the third quarter valued at $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several research analysts have commented on the company. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lowered 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 lifted their target price on 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 set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $649.23.
Read Our Latest Analysis on MSCI
MSCI Price Performance
MSCI stock traded down $3.77 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $541.30. The stock had a trading volume of 650,779 shares, compared to its average volume of 526,409. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.50, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The stock's fifty day moving average is $585.55 and its two-hundred day moving average is $589.20.
MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.
MSCI Increases Dividend
The business 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 yield of 1.33%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.
About MSCI
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Free Report)
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.
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