Korea Investment CORP Has $26.44 Million Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Korea Investment CORP raised its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 24.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,070 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 8,700 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP owned 0.06% of MSCI worth $26,442,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. LRI Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 period. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter valued at $38,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $41,000. Private Trust Co. NA raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company's stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its position in MSCI by 122.7% during the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $59,000 after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced 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 restated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note 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. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $649.23.

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Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSCI Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of MSCI stock traded up $1.67 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $568.97. The stock had a trading volume of 111,203 shares, compared to its average volume of 554,928. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $44.18 billion, a PE ratio of 40.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $576.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $588.99.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (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 last year, the firm posted $3.68 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. This is a positive change from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

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.