Scotia Capital Inc. Boosts Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Scotia Capital Inc. grew its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 22.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,397 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 1,348 shares during the quarter. Scotia Capital Inc.'s holdings in MSCI were worth $4,438,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its holdings in MSCI by 30.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company's stock worth $104,991,000 after acquiring an additional 41,346 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company's stock worth $312,574,000 after purchasing an additional 23,050 shares during the period. Nvwm LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 3,581.3% in the fourth quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,060,000 after purchasing an additional 1,719 shares during the last quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 76.3% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295 shares during the period. Finally, Threadgill Financial LLC raised its position in MSCI by 255.4% during the 4th quarter. Threadgill Financial LLC now owns 1,283 shares of the technology company's stock worth $770,000 after purchasing an additional 922 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

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MSCI Trading Up 1.0 %

MSCI stock traded up $5.28 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $556.53. The stock had a trading volume of 361,993 shares, compared to its average volume of 569,009. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $561.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $586.67. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $43.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.58, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 in the prior year, the company posted $3.68 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.29%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCI's previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $623.00 to $532.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three 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 a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $646.58.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total value of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 294,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction 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 approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.