Vanguard Group Inc. Raises Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 0.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,858,019 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 20,875 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 11.30% of MSCI worth $5,314,900,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. LRI Investments LLC increased its position 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 buying an additional 24 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth about $38,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter worth about $41,000. Private Trust Co. NA lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the period. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 122.7% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have issued reports on MSCI. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three 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, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $649.23.

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MSCI Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:MSCI traded down $3.00 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $566.48. 104,862 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 527,942. The stock has a market cap of $43.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $580.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $588.71. MSCI Inc. has a 12-month low of $439.95 and a 12-month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 posted $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.27%. This is a boost from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

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.