Canada Pension Plan Investment Board Raises Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Canada Pension Plan Investment Board boosted its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 42.5% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 86,288 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,741 shares during the quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board’s holdings in MSCI were worth $51,774,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 2.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $870,627,000 after acquiring an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB raised its holdings in MSCI by 26.2% in the third quarter. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB now owns 919 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $536,000 after buying an additional 191 shares during the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 76.3% in the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 12,209 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,117,000 after buying an additional 5,283 shares in the last quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 47.5% during the third quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 975 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $568,000 after buying an additional 314 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $312,574,000 after acquiring an additional 23,050 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $546.73 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 12 month low of $439.95 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $42.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $558.86 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $585.72.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 period last year, the business posted $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share 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 given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total value of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $154,542,084.75. The trade was a 1.67 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently issued reports on MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday. Bank of America began coverage on MSCI in a report on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price objective for the company. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $643.92.

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.