Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Grows Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI raised its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 75.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,900 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 815 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,140,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 120.0% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the third quarter valued at $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the third quarter valued at $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the third quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Up 0.5 %

MSCI stock opened at $544.29 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $42.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 38.71, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $586.66 and its 200-day moving average price is $589.54.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.68 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.32%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on MSCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays dropped their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. 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. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

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.