Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Buys 5,698 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. increased its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 58.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,400 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 5,698 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.'s holdings in MSCI were worth $9,240,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of MSCI. iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 33.0% during the fourth quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 7,258 shares of the technology company's stock worth $4,355,000 after purchasing an additional 1,801 shares during the last quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas lifted its stake in MSCI by 316.7% in the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 108,486 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $65,093,000 after buying an additional 82,451 shares during the last quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 31,542 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $18,926,000 after acquiring an additional 401 shares during the period. GCQ FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY Ltd purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $40,812,000. Finally, Vinva Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 38.7% in the 4th quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 28,912 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $17,337,000 after acquiring an additional 8,068 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on MSCI. Morgan Stanley increased 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays dropped their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a "peer perform" rating to an "outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $649.23.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded up $8.59 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $575.38. 409,806 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 529,083. The company has a market cap of $44.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $581.63 and its 200 day simple moving average is $588.73. 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 earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 is a boost from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

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.