Picton Mahoney Asset Management Acquires New Stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Picton Mahoney Asset Management bought a new position in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 100 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $60,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in 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 valued at $870,627,000 after purchasing an additional 37,340 shares during the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 30.0% during the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 564 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $329,000 after buying an additional 130 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. bought a new position in MSCI in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $207,000. KBC Group NV grew its stake in MSCI by 11.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 12,208 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $7,116,000 after buying an additional 1,291 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Huntington National Bank raised its holdings in MSCI by 12.7% during the 3rd quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 382 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $223,000 after acquiring an additional 43 shares during the period. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Up 2.5 %

NYSE MSCI opened at $554.92 on Monday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $584.61 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $589.15. MSCI Inc. has a twelve month low of $439.95 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $43.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 39.47, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its earnings results 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 negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.68 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share 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 issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.30%. This is a positive change from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.21%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 acquired at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. The trade was 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 the SEC website. 3.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Wolfe Research raised MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lowered their price target on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of 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 note on Wednesday, December 18th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $649.23.

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.