MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Stake Boosted by Boston Financial Mangement LLC

Boston Financial Mangement LLC increased its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 30,933 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 669 shares during the period. Boston Financial Mangement LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $18,560,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in MSCI by 7.1% during the fourth quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC now owns 484 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $290,000 after buying an additional 32 shares in the last quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 10.5% during the 4th quarter. Meitav Investment House Ltd. now owns 3,656 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,194,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 6.8% in the 4th quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB now owns 23,928 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $14,357,000 after acquiring an additional 1,524 shares during the last quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the 4th quarter. Cumberland Partners Ltd now owns 5,500 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,300,000 after acquiring an additional 3,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 97.4% during the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 12,308 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,385,000 after purchasing an additional 6,072 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was bought at an average cost 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 directly owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $574.18 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $44.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.84, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $599.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $587.27.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 in the prior year, the company earned $3.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays decreased their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

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.