Ethos Financial Group LLC Purchases New Position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Ethos Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm purchased 755 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $453,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Edgewood Management LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 16.9% during the third quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,279,904,000 after buying an additional 318,214 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $185,003,000. Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $126,082,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its holdings in MSCI by 14.3% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $925,531,000 after buying an additional 198,666 shares during the period. Finally, Canoe Financial LP lifted its holdings in MSCI by 700.4% during the fourth quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 186,131 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $111,680,000 after buying an additional 162,877 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE:MSCI opened at $565.84 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $43.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.24, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $590.97 and its two-hundred day moving average is $589.81.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same period last year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Barclays reduced their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

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.