GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd Makes New Investment in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd acquired a new position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 68,019 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $40,812,000. MSCI makes up approximately 14.3% of GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd's holdings, making the stock its 4th biggest position. GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd owned approximately 0.09% of MSCI at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its holdings in MSCI by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,860,925,000 after acquiring an additional 11,351 shares in the last quarter. Edgewood Management LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 16.9% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.7% during 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. increased its holdings in MSCI by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $967,820,000 after buying an additional 119,471 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its stake in 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 valued at $925,531,000 after buying an additional 198,666 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on MSCI. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $649.23.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value 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 acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI traded down $3.01 during trading on Friday, reaching $562.98. The company's stock had a trading volume of 822,821 shares, compared to its average volume of 529,429. The business's fifty day moving average price is $581.93 and its 200-day moving average price is $588.65. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $43.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 quarter last year, the company earned $3.68 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.28%. This is a positive change from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.