EFG Asset Management North America Corp. Purchases 1,062 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

EFG Asset Management North America Corp. increased its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 57.1% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 2,921 shares of the technology company’s stock after buying an additional 1,062 shares during the period. EFG Asset Management North America Corp.’s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,753,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 2.6% in the third quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $870,627,000 after acquiring an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. Cerity Partners LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 31.3% during the 3rd quarter. Cerity Partners LLC now owns 17,329 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $10,102,000 after buying an additional 4,133 shares during the period. Algert Global LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 1,127.9% during the third quarter. Algert Global LLC now owns 5,759 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,357,000 after purchasing an additional 5,290 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its stake in MSCI by 32.1% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 107 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 26 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Trail Advisors LLC boosted its stake in MSCI by 18.1% in the 3rd quarter. Summit Trail Advisors LLC now owns 810 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $472,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $575.38 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $581.43 and its 200 day moving average is $588.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.68 billion, a PE ratio of 40.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.68 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Stockholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. This is a boost 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 1.25%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MSCI has been the subject of several research reports. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research upgraded 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 stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $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 at this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.