Ieq Capital LLC Purchases 6,072 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Ieq Capital LLC grew its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 97.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,308 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 6,072 shares during the period. Ieq Capital LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $7,385,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Creative Planning raised its position in MSCI by 15.6% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 11,090 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,465,000 after purchasing an additional 1,499 shares during the last quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 15.0% in the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,318 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,351,000 after buying an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 6.8% in the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,248 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $728,000 after buying an additional 80 shares during the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 15.8% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 945 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $551,000 after buying an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its holdings in MSCI by 20.6% during the 3rd quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 745 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $435,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. This represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $574.51 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $44.61 billion, a PE ratio of 40.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.11. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $598.40 and a 200-day moving average of $587.18. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its 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 earned $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on MSCI. UBS Group dropped their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

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.