MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Bought by Amundi

Amundi grew its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 7.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 468,242 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 34,094 shares during the quarter. Amundi’s holdings in MSCI were worth $281,989,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Permanent Capital Management LP acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $382,000. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 26.7% during the fourth quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 569 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $341,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. NS Partners Ltd raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. NS Partners Ltd now owns 76,631 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,979,000 after purchasing an additional 1,910 shares during the period. Generali Investments CEE investicni spolecnost a.s. acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth $2,430,000. Finally, Machina Capital S.A.S. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI by 183.8% during the fourth quarter. Machina Capital S.A.S. now owns 2,912 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,747,000 after purchasing an additional 1,886 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of MSCI opened at $562.01 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $590.02 and a 200 day moving average price of $590.00. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.64 billion, a PE ratio of 39.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45.

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

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSCI. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.