MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) CEO Henry A. Fernandez Buys 13,000 Shares

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

MSCI Trading Up 0.6 %

MSCI stock traded up $2.67 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $467.16. The stock had a trading volume of 93,739 shares, compared to its average volume of 535,411. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $617.39. The firm has a market capitalization of $37.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 31.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.06. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $543.53 and a 200 day simple moving average of $538.04.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a net margin of 44.55% and a negative return on equity of 121.86%. The firm had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.14 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.37%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 43.69%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. TRUE Private Wealth Advisors now owns 797 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $447,000 after purchasing an additional 56 shares during the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 35.7% during the 1st quarter. Capital Investment Advisory Services LLC now owns 612 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Fjarde AP Fonden Fourth Swedish National Pension Fund now owns 14,210 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,964,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Simplicity Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,353,000. Finally, E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. boosted its position in MSCI by 426.0% during the 1st quarter. E Fund Management Hong Kong Co. Ltd. now owns 1,094 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $613,000 after buying an additional 886 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. UBS Group dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $615.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 31st. Redburn Atlantic cut shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of MSCI from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $562.87.

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.