MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Purchased by FIL Ltd

FIL Ltd grew its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,822 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 1,014 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd's holdings in MSCI were worth $15,493,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of MSCI by 2.6% in the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $870,627,000 after acquiring an additional 37,340 shares during the period. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Coldstream Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,715 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,002,000 after purchasing an additional 85 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 39,233 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $22,870,000 after purchasing an additional 539 shares in the last quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 57.1% in the 3rd quarter. TD Private Client Wealth LLC now owns 3,215 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,874,000 after purchasing an additional 1,168 shares during the period. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 66.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 6,412 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,780,000 after purchasing an additional 2,551 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MSCI shares. Bank of America started coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 price objective for the company. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $623.00 to $532.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $646.58.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. The trade was a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MSCI Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of MSCI stock traded up $5.28 on Tuesday, hitting $556.53. 361,993 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 568,834. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $561.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $586.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year 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 earnings per share 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. Research 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. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. This is a positive change from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

About MSCI

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.