Insider Buying: MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) CEO Acquires 13,000 Shares of Stock

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 13,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 327,479 shares in the company, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website.

MSCI Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE MSCI traded up $2.67 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $467.16. 93,739 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 535,411. The stock has a market cap of $37.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.34 and a beta of 1.06. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $617.39. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $543.53 and a 200 day moving average of $538.04.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $685.47 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.14 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 14.76 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Raymond James reaffirmed a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, January 5th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price objective on MSCI from $615.00 to $526.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Redburn Atlantic downgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $620.00 to $470.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $562.87.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MSCI

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 6.7% in the third quarter. Flagship Harbor Advisors LLC now owns 561 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $288,000 after buying an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 348.7% in the third quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC now owns 341 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $175,000 after purchasing an additional 265 shares during the period. Caprock Group LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 4.5% in the third quarter. Caprock Group LLC now owns 669 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $343,000 after purchasing an additional 29 shares during the period. Czech National Bank increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 45.9% in the third quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 13,823 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,092,000 after purchasing an additional 4,346 shares during the period. Finally, Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.2% in the third quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 41,052 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $21,063,000 after purchasing an additional 1,291 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About MSCI

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.