National Bank of Canada FI Boosts Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

National Bank of Canada FI lifted its holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 187.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 196,148 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 128,001 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI owned about 0.25% of MSCI worth $117,691,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 2.6% during the third 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 period. Verition Fund Management LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 76.0% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 6,478 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $3,776,000 after acquiring an additional 2,798 shares in the last quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 3rd quarter worth $5,713,000. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in MSCI during the third quarter valued at about $38,000. Finally, Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in MSCI in the third quarter valued at about $389,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

MSCI Stock Up 1.3 %

MSCI stock opened at $565.66 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $577.89 and a 200 day moving average price of $588.96. The company has a market capitalization 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. MSCI Inc. has a 52 week low of $439.95 and a 52 week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced 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 previous year, the business posted $3.68 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.27%. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at approximately $729,599,549.01. The trade was a 0.42 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.