National Pension Service Acquires 3,502 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

National Pension Service increased its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 154,239 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 3,502 shares during the period. National Pension Service owned about 0.20% of MSCI worth $87,245,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Optiver Holding B.V. bought a new position in MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $26,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 5,600.0% in the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC bought a new stake in MSCI during the third quarter valued at $30,000. Annis Gardner Whiting Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth about $51,000. Finally, Quent Capital LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 23.5% in the 4th quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 100 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 19 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on MSCI. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Bank of America upgraded MSCI from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $425.00 to $525.00 in a report on Tuesday, April 30th. Oppenheimer reiterated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 24th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 24th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $569.53.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 13,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, 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 bought at an average price of $459.41 per share, for a total transaction of $3,445,575.00. Following 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $465.92 per share, with a total value of $6,056,960.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $152,579,015.68. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI traded up $8.42 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $479.17. 363,736 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 576,630. The company has a market cap of $37.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 32.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 1.09. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $617.39. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $528.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $536.16.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.44 by $0.08. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The business had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $685.47 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.14 earnings per share. MSCI’s revenue was up 14.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.66 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 43.69%.

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.