Pittenger & Anderson Inc. Grows Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Pittenger & Anderson Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 29,999 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 447 shares during the period. Pittenger & Anderson Inc.'s holdings in MSCI were worth $18,000,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Edgewood Management LLC raised 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 valued at $1,279,904,000 after acquiring an additional 318,214 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in MSCI by 14.3% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 700.4% during the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 186,131 shares of the technology company's stock worth $111,680,000 after purchasing an additional 162,877 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in MSCI by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company's stock worth $967,820,000 after acquiring an additional 119,471 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 358.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 133,636 shares of the technology company's stock worth $77,900,000 after buying an additional 104,474 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE:MSCI traded down $0.22 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $574.51. The stock had a trading volume of 736,989 shares, compared to its average volume of 554,309. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.11. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $598.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $587.18. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45.

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 for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 in the previous year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. 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 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on MSCI. Barclays reduced their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. UBS Group reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $649.23.

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.