Mackenzie Financial Corp Boosts Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 3,881.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 419,429 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 408,894 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp owned about 0.54% of MSCI worth $251,662,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of MSCI. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 35,094 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $967,820,000 after purchasing an additional 119,471 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp grew its holdings in MSCI by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $689,180,000 after acquiring an additional 49,679 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $609,937,000. Finally, FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 853,452 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $512,079,000 after acquiring an additional 25,325 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 294,787 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $154,542,084.75. The trade was a 1.67% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Trading Down 0.8%

MSCI stock opened at $559.11 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 39.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $551.13 and its 200-day simple moving average is $578.64. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $475.32 and a twelve month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $746.45 million. Sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Stockholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.29%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Bank of America began coverage on MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $585.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of 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 analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $645.36.

MSCI 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.