Mizuho Securities USA LLC Increases Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 45.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,428 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 2,328 shares during the quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $4,457,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. CWA Asset Management Group LLC raised its position in MSCI by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $251,000 after purchasing an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 492 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,044 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,227,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares during the period. Private Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in MSCI by 35.1% during the 3rd 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, Perigon Wealth Management LLC increased its position in MSCI by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 575 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays cut their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $649.23.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI traded down $5.27 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $569.35. 455,125 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 529,776. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $580.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $588.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 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 business earned $3.68 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a boost from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.26%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.