Essex Savings Bank Takes $203,000 Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Essex Savings Bank bought a new position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 338 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $203,000.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Alken Asset Management Ltd purchased a new position in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $660,000. Burney Co. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Burney Co. now owns 1,251 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $751,000 after purchasing an additional 100 shares during the last quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 9.2% in the fourth quarter. Park Avenue Securities LLC now owns 3,121 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,873,000 after buying an additional 263 shares during the period. Kathmere Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 15.6% during the 4th quarter. Kathmere Capital Management LLC now owns 667 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $400,000 after buying an additional 90 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in MSCI by 30.9% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $104,991,000 after buying an additional 41,346 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Up 1.4 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $609.49 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $602.89 and its 200 day moving average is $572.89. The stock has a market cap of $47.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.02, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, October 29th. The technology company reported $3.86 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.77 by $0.09. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. The firm had revenue of $724.70 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $716.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.45 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 15.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 14.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, November 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, November 15th were given a $1.60 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, November 15th. This represents a $6.40 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.05%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 42.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on MSCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $638.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Redburn Atlantic upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $680.00 target price for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 9th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MSCI has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $645.67.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were bought at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following 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 filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.