Norges Bank Purchases New Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 1,016,544 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $609,937,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.30% of MSCI at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in MSCI by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,860,925,000 after acquiring an additional 11,351 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.7% in the third 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. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $967,820,000 after purchasing an additional 119,471 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp increased its stake in MSCI by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company's stock worth $689,180,000 after buying an additional 49,679 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 17.4% during the 4th quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 569,374 shares of the technology company's stock worth $341,630,000 after buying an additional 84,354 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought 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 owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was 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. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI traded up $3.28 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $570.58. 122,954 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 554,273. The company has a market capitalization of $44.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.58, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The business's 50-day moving average price is $576.88 and its 200 day moving average price is $588.99.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 period in the previous year, the company earned $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. This is a boost from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, 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. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $649.23.

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.