Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd Takes $876,000 Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd bought a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor bought 1,460 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $876,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. LRI Investments LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 120.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 24 shares during the period. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA acquired a new stake in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Y.D. More Investments Ltd increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 122.7% during the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $59,000 after acquiring an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new stake in MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at $60,000. Finally, Private Trust Co. NA grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 46.8% during the fourth quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 113 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $68,000 after buying an additional 36 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MSCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Barclays cut their price objective on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $647.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $507.57 on Monday. MSCI Inc. has a 1-year low of $439.95 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $39.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $572.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $588.66.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) 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 posted $3.68 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This is a boost from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.42%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

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.