Swedbank AB Acquires 15,425 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Swedbank AB boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 10.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 169,532 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 15,425 shares during the period. Swedbank AB owned about 0.22% of MSCI worth $101,721,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of MSCI by 0.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,860,925,000 after buying an additional 11,351 shares during the period. Edgewood Management LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,279,904,000 after acquiring an additional 318,214 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.7% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,862,362 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,082,594,000 after purchasing an additional 13,691 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 14.3% during 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 purchasing an additional 198,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in MSCI by 2.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company's stock worth $870,627,000 after purchasing an additional 37,340 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $690.00 target price on the stock. Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $680.00 target price for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $649.23.

MSCI Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of MSCI traded down $2.10 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $590.96. 141,636 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 449,163. The company has a market cap of $46.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.11. The company's 50-day moving average price is $606.80 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $581.51. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 negative return on equity of 162.06% and a net margin of 43.06%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.99 EPS for the current year.

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.