Dash Acquisitions Inc. Grows Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Dash Acquisitions Inc. grew its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 17.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 4,358 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 655 shares during the period. MSCI comprises 0.6% of Dash Acquisitions Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 25th biggest holding. Dash Acquisitions Inc.'s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,739,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Boston Financial Mangement LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Boston Financial Mangement LLC now owns 30,933 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $18,560,000 after purchasing an additional 669 shares during the last quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 484 shares of the technology company's stock worth $290,000 after purchasing an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 10.5% during the fourth quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 3,656 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,194,000 after buying an additional 347 shares during the period. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 6.8% in the fourth quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 23,928 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $14,357,000 after buying an additional 1,524 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cumberland Partners Ltd raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the 4th quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 5,500 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,300,000 after buying an additional 3,000 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. Barclays lowered their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $649.23.

MSCI Stock Up 0.8 %

MSCI stock traded up $4.36 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $578.71. The company's stock had a trading volume of 565,157 shares, compared to its average volume of 554,625. The company has a market cap of $44.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $597.17 and a 200-day simple moving average of $587.09. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.68 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. This is a boost from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.21%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

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.