MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) CEO Henry A. Fernandez Buys 13,000 Shares

MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 13,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, April 25th. The shares were bought at an average price of $465.92 per share, for a total transaction of $6,056,960.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 327,479 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $152,579,015.68. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $477.78 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $37.85 billion, a P/E ratio of 32.61, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 1.06. The business’s 50 day moving average is $541.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $537.78. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $617.39.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 23rd. The technology company reported $3.52 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.44 by $0.08. The firm had revenue of $680.00 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $685.47 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 121.86% and a net margin of 44.55%. MSCI’s quarterly revenue was up 14.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.14 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 31st. Investors of record on Friday, May 17th will be issued a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, May 16th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.34%. MSCI’s payout ratio is 43.69%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $638.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, April 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on MSCI from $671.00 to $615.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group lowered their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $575.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft upgraded MSCI from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $613.00 to $569.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Raymond James restated a “market perform” rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Friday, January 5th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $562.87.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Optiver Holding B.V. purchased a new stake in MSCI during the third quarter worth $26,000. Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the first quarter worth $26,000. ORG Partners LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 5,600.0% during the third quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 57 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 56 shares during the period. Headinvest LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the third quarter worth $30,000. Finally, American National Bank lifted its holdings in MSCI by 1,300.0% during the fourth quarter. American National Bank now owns 70 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 65 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Company 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.