Capital Advisors Inc. OK Invests $269,000 in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Capital Advisors Inc. OK bought a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 449 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $269,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 30.0% during the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $329,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 30.9% in the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $104,991,000 after purchasing 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. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC increased its holdings in MSCI by 176.2% in the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $921,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on MSCI shares. Barclays decreased their price objective 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. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group cut 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock opened at $572.05 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.83 billion, a PE ratio of 40.69, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $604.06 and a 200-day simple moving average of $586.25.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 previous year, the firm earned $3.68 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.26%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.52%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased 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 owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

MSCI 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.