MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Acquired by Blue Trust Inc.

Blue Trust Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI) by 25.4% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 212 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 43 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $122,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 5.9% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,376,852 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,302,610,000 after purchasing an additional 518,833 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in MSCI by 0.9% in the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,626,923 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $920,026,000 after acquiring an additional 13,918 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in MSCI by 2.0% in the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,008,778 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $570,464,000 after acquiring an additional 19,846 shares in the last quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in MSCI by 11.9% in the second quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 890,123 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $513,370,000 after acquiring an additional 94,466 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in MSCI by 2.6% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 804,640 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $455,024,000 after acquiring an additional 20,150 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Down 2.9%

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $533.72 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $41.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 1.33. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $486.73 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $563.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $558.78.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $772.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.06 million. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. The firm’s revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.64 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.68%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $588.00 to $611.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 10th. Seaport Res Ptn raised shares of MSCI to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $647.70.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 9,916 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $544.70 per share, for a total transaction of $5,401,245.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,867 shares in the company, valued at approximately $697,143,554.90. The trade was a 0.78% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders have purchased 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

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.