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 MSCI stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired 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 directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $573.31 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $44.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.78, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $595.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $588.70. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.68 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.26%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

Institutional Trading of MSCI

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. UBS Group dropped their price objective on MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company 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.