Bank of New York Mellon Corp Acquires 10,436 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 517,769 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,436 shares during the quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 0.66% of MSCI worth $310,667,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 30.0% during the third quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $329,000 after purchasing an additional 130 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in MSCI by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $104,991,000 after buying an additional 41,346 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $312,574,000 after buying an additional 23,050 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 339.6% in the 3rd 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 period. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 176.2% during the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $921,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $579.16 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $44.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $594.42 and its 200-day moving average is $588.98.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.68 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $1.80 dividend. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.