2Xideas AG Boosts Stock Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

2Xideas AG boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 35.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,557 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,625 shares during the period. MSCI comprises approximately 1.7% of 2Xideas AG’s holdings, making the stock its 21st largest holding. 2Xideas AG’s holdings in MSCI were worth $12,934,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.6% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. purchased a new stake in MSCI in the third quarter worth about $401,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in MSCI by 2.1% during the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 9,645 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,621,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 176.2% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $921,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008 shares during the period. Finally, Royal London Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 9.0% during the 3rd quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. now owns 31,141 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $18,153,000 after acquiring an additional 2,561 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 3.31% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently weighed in on MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $647.31.

MSCI Stock Down 6.7 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $507.57 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $39.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $572.46 and a 200 day moving average of $588.40.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 period last year, the business posted $3.68 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.42%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

MSCI 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.