Handelsbanken Fonder AB Raises Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Handelsbanken Fonder AB lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 6.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 23,928 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,524 shares during the quarter. Handelsbanken Fonder AB’s holdings in MSCI were worth $14,357,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 15.0% during the third quarter. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC now owns 2,318 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,351,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 6.8% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,248 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $728,000 after purchasing an additional 80 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 15.8% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 945 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $551,000 after buying an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 19,331.1% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 26,232 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $15,291,000 after buying an additional 26,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth approximately $133,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $578.71 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $597.17 and a 200 day moving average of $587.09. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.16, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 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 last year, the business earned $3.68 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a $1.80 dividend. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.24%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 2,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.