Freedom Day Solutions LLC Acquires 301 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Freedom Day Solutions LLC raised its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,878 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 301 shares during the quarter. Freedom Day Solutions LLC’s holdings in MSCI were worth $2,927,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of MSCI. Edgewood Management LLC grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,279,904,000 after acquiring an additional 318,214 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $925,531,000 after acquiring an additional 198,666 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 700.4% in the 4th quarter. Canoe Financial LP now owns 186,131 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $111,680,000 after acquiring an additional 162,877 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $967,820,000 after acquiring an additional 119,471 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 358.3% in the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 133,636 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $77,900,000 after acquiring an additional 104,474 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, with a total value 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 represents a 0.89 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Barclays reduced their target price 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. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

MSCI Stock Up 0.3 %

NYSE MSCI opened at $574.18 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $44.58 billion, a PE ratio of 40.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 1.11. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $599.50 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $587.27.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 EPS 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 in the prior year, the firm earned $3.68 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

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

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.