MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Acquired by AXS Investments LLC

AXS Investments LLC boosted its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,399 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 107 shares during the quarter. AXS Investments LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,357,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Bamco Inc. NY raised its position in MSCI by 0.7% in the third quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 2,260,105 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,159,615,000 after purchasing an additional 15,184 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its position in MSCI by 1.6% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 1,893,728 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $971,634,000 after purchasing an additional 30,528 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in MSCI by 14.0% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,460,634 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $749,422,000 after purchasing an additional 179,508 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. increased its position in shares of MSCI by 4.4% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 1,038,761 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $587,575,000 after acquiring an additional 44,234 shares during the last quarter. Finally, American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in shares of MSCI by 32.5% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 959,894 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $492,502,000 after acquiring an additional 235,290 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded up $3.14 during trading on Friday, hitting $493.54. The company had a trading volume of 262,960 shares, compared to its average volume of 595,006. The company has a market cap of $39.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 33.62, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.09. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $617.39. The business’s 50-day moving average is $513.20 and its 200 day moving average is $536.31.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $680.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.14 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 17th will be paid a dividend of $1.60 per share. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.30%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 43.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 13,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit acquired 7,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $459.41 per share, with a total value of $3,445,575.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief operating officer now directly owns 291,038 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $133,705,767.58. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MSCI. Bank of America raised MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $425.00 to $525.00 in a research report on Tuesday, April 30th. UBS Group dropped their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Barclays decreased their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group reduced their price objective on MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $570.53.

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.