Heartland Bank & Trust Co Has $805,000 Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Heartland Bank & Trust Co trimmed its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.2% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 1,341 shares of the technology company’s stock after selling 59 shares during the period. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in MSCI were worth $805,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSCI. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 30.0% in the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $329,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the period. Grove Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in MSCI by 52.4% during the third quarter. Grove Bank & Trust now owns 3,779 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,203,000 after purchasing an additional 1,299 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 41,346 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in MSCI by 4.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $312,574,000 after purchasing an additional 23,050 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 339.6% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 26,834 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $15,642,000 after buying an additional 20,730 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Up 0.7 %

NYSE MSCI opened at $620.22 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.61 billion, a PE ratio of 40.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $605.31 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $579.61. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $724.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. MSCI’s revenue for the quarter was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on MSCI shares. UBS Group lowered their price target on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective 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. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. They set an “outperform” rating and a $690.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company 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.