True North Advisors LLC Takes Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

True North Advisors LLC purchased a new position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor purchased 507 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $304,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.7% in the 4th quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 26,643 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $15,986,000 after purchasing an additional 691 shares during the last quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 5.3% during the fourth quarter. Simon Quick Advisors LLC now owns 1,200 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $720,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Bourgeon Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter worth about $569,000. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 5.2% during the 4th quarter. Mogy Joel R Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 23,048 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $13,829,000 after acquiring an additional 1,136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atomi Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 113.7% during the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,094 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $657,000 after acquiring an additional 582 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price on the stock in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. UBS Group lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Morgan Stanley upped 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.85.

MSCI Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $614.25 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $604.53 and its 200-day moving average is $576.95. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.14 billion, a PE ratio of 40.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.80 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.77 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $716.15 million. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. MSCI’s quarterly revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.45 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.98 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Investors of record on Friday, November 15th were issued a dividend of $1.60 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.04%. MSCI’s payout ratio is 42.02%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price 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 owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.