Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. Acquires 365 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Tocqueville Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 7.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,041 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 365 shares during the period. Tocqueville Asset Management L.P.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $3,025,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. LRI Investments LLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 120.0% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 24 shares in the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $38,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,000. Private Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 35.1% in the 3rd quarter. Private Trust Co. NA now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y.D. More Investments Ltd grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 122.7% in the fourth quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd now owns 98 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $59,000 after buying an additional 54 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on MSCI shares. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research note on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of NYSE MSCI opened at $568.48 on Wednesday. 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 $44.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.43, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $583.54 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $588.95.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released 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 net margin of 38.83% and a negative return on equity of 156.08%. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.68 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.27%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price 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 directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This trade represents a 0.42 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.