MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) CEO Purchases $3,044,903.00 in Stock

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) 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 cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

MSCI Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE MSCI opened at $581.09 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $594.03 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $588.93. The company has a market cap of $45.12 billion, a PE ratio of 41.33, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.24%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays decreased their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of MSCI. LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 120.0% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 293.8% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares during the period. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the third quarter valued at approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Finally, Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

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.