Y.D. More Investments Ltd Acquires 54 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Y.D. More Investments Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 122.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 98 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 54 shares during the period. Y.D. More Investments Ltd’s holdings in MSCI were worth $59,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. State Street Corp raised its position in MSCI by 0.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,860,925,000 after acquiring an additional 11,351 shares during the period. Edgewood Management LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 16.9% during the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after acquiring an additional 318,214 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,862,362 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,082,594,000 after purchasing an additional 13,691 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $925,531,000 after purchasing an additional 198,666 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in MSCI by 2.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $870,627,000 after purchasing an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI opened at $581.98 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.61 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $606.59 and a 200-day moving average price of $584.53.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.68 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.85 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 45.52%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on MSCI. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Redburn Atlantic raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.