MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) Shares Acquired by Russell Investments Group Ltd.

Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 37.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 339,526 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 92,213 shares during the quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. owned about 0.43% of MSCI worth $203,710,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2.6% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,493,534 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $870,627,000 after buying an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth $401,000. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in MSCI by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 9,645 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $5,621,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its position in MSCI by 176.2% in the third quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,580 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $921,000 after buying an additional 1,008 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parallax Volatility Advisers L.P. boosted its stake in MSCI by 150.4% during the third quarter. Parallax Volatility Advisers L.P. now owns 1,670 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $973,000 after buying an additional 1,003 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 5,300 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 24th. The stock was purchased 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.31% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on MSCI shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Wolfe Research raised shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 30th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $647.31.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock opened at $507.57 on Friday. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $572.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $588.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $39.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.30.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share 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 in the previous year, the business posted $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th were issued a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.42%. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is 51.21%.

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.