MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Bought by National Bank of Canada FI

National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 187.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 196,148 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 128,001 shares during the quarter. National Bank of Canada FI’s holdings in MSCI were worth $117,691,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 30.9% in the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $104,991,000 after buying an additional 41,346 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 4.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $312,574,000 after acquiring an additional 23,050 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 176.2% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $921,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. Nvwm LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 3,581.3% during the fourth quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,060,000 after purchasing an additional 1,719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 76.3% in the 4th quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,795,000 after purchasing an additional 1,295 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $565.66 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $577.89 and a 200 day moving average of $588.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.23, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current 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 dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Wolfe Research upgraded MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

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.