PineStone Asset Management Inc. Buys 94,466 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

PineStone Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 11.9% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 890,123 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 94,466 shares during the quarter. MSCI comprises 3.3% of PineStone Asset Management Inc.’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 11th largest position. PineStone Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $513,370,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Olde Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its position in MSCI by 136.4% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 52 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its stake in MSCI by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 66 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 22 shares during the period. Banque Transatlantique SA boosted its holdings in MSCI by 355.6% in the first quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA now owns 82 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HWG Holdings LP bought a new position in MSCI in the first quarter worth approximately $44,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $564.96 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $43.71 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.41, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.34. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $562.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $559.14. MSCI Inc has a 12-month low of $486.73 and a 12-month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.12 by $0.05. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. The firm had revenue of $772.68 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.64 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 47.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on MSCI. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 10th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised shares of MSCI from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $650.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $652.45.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 84 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $548.69 per share, with a total value of $46,089.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,951 shares in the company, valued at $702,296,314.19. This represents a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599. Company 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.