MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) is GFI Investment Counsel Ltd.’s 5th Largest Position

GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. raised its position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 116,611 shares of the technology company’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,239 shares during the quarter. MSCI makes up 8.0% of GFI Investment Counsel Ltd.’s portfolio, making the stock its 5th biggest holding. GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. owned 0.15% of MSCI worth $69,968,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in MSCI by 30.9% during the fourth quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 174,982 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $104,991,000 after buying an additional 41,346 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in shares of MSCI by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $312,574,000 after acquiring an additional 23,050 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 176.2% during the 3rd quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $921,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008 shares during the period. Nvwm LLC increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 3,581.3% in the 4th quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,060,000 after purchasing an additional 1,719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Merit Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of MSCI by 76.3% in the fourth quarter. Merit Financial Group LLC now owns 2,992 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,795,000 after buying an additional 1,295 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price objective 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 increased their target price for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a research report on Wednesday, December 18th. Barclays lowered their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The shares were bought at an average price of $574.51 per share, with a total value of $3,044,903.00. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $565.66 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $43.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $577.89 and a 200-day moving average price of $588.96. MSCI Inc. has a one year low of $439.95 and a one year high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 quarter last year, the business earned $3.68 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.27%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.21%.

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.