MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Stock Holdings Increased by Xponance Inc.

Xponance Inc. grew its position in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 19,597 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the quarter. Xponance Inc.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $11,758,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Horizon Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Horizon Investments LLC now owns 1,220 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $732,000 after acquiring an additional 35 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 49.6% in the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,087 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,052,000 after acquiring an additional 1,686 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 62.3% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 58,061 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $34,837,000 after acquiring an additional 22,285 shares during the last quarter. PDS Planning Inc grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 451 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $271,000 after acquiring an additional 34 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 7.8% in the 4th quarter. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. now owns 5,041 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,025,000 after acquiring an additional 365 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Trading Up 0.4 %

MSCI opened at $568.48 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $44.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.43, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $583.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $588.95.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced 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 company earned $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Barclays decreased their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.