Dash Acquisitions Inc. Acquires 655 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Dash Acquisitions Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 17.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,358 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the period. MSCI comprises 0.6% of Dash Acquisitions Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest holding. Dash Acquisitions Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,739,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 0.9% in the 3rd quarter. Frank Rimerman Advisors LLC now owns 1,968 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,147,000 after buying an additional 17 shares during the period. CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 418 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $251,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares in the last quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Angeles Wealth Management LLC now owns 492 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 17 shares during the last quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC raised its position in MSCI by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 2,044 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,227,000 after purchasing an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its stake in MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $574.18 on Thursday. The stock has a market cap of $44.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The company’s fifty day moving average is $599.50 and its 200 day moving average is $587.27.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS 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 last year, the firm posted $3.68 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.21%.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought 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 $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group lowered their price target on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price 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.