Meitav Investment House Ltd. Purchases 347 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Meitav Investment House Ltd. boosted its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 10.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,656 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 347 shares during the period. Meitav Investment House Ltd.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,194,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. LRI Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 120.0% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the third quarter worth about $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC bought a new position in MSCI during the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA purchased a new position in MSCI during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Up 0.3 %

MSCI stock opened at $574.18 on Thursday. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $44.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.84, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $599.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $587.27.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 in the prior year, the firm posted $3.68 EPS. Research analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.25%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSCI. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price 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 that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost 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 directly owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is owned by insiders.

MSCI 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.