Guggenheim Capital LLC Has $1.12 Million Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Guggenheim Capital LLC raised its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 9.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,861 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 161 shares during the quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,117,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Aware Super Pty Ltd as trustee of Aware Super acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,566,000. Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $803,000. Value Partners Investments Inc. grew its position in MSCI by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Value Partners Investments Inc. now owns 4,285 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $2,571,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Mariner LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 19,824 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $11,894,000 after acquiring an additional 492 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp raised its holdings in MSCI by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 5,557 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,335,000 after acquiring an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays cut their price target on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, April 4th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $643.92.

MSCI Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE MSCI opened at $539.00 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $41.85 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.34, a price-to-earnings-growth 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 business’s fifty day moving average is $557.43 and its 200 day moving average is $584.95.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. The firm had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $746.45 million. On average, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.80 dividend. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total transaction of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 294,787 shares in the company, valued at $154,542,084.75. This trade represents a 1.67 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

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.