First Foundation Advisors Buys 852 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

First Foundation Advisors lifted its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 12.8% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,493 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 852 shares during the quarter. First Foundation Advisors’ holdings in MSCI were worth $4,496,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,456 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,136,563,000 after buying an additional 35,094 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its position in shares of MSCI by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $967,820,000 after purchasing an additional 119,471 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp grew its position in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $689,180,000 after purchasing an additional 49,679 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $609,937,000. Finally, FMR LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 853,452 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $512,079,000 after purchasing an additional 25,325 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average price 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total value of $2,621,250.00. Following the transaction, the chief operating officer now owns 294,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $154,542,084.75. This represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Down 4.0 %

NYSE MSCI opened at $527.12 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $40.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.49, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $564.12 and a 200 day moving average of $587.09.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $3.68 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.37%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut 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. Morgan Stanley raised 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. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays cut their price target on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $646.58.

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.