SYM FINANCIAL Corp Buys Shares of 496 MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

SYM FINANCIAL Corp bought a new stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 496 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $298,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. Edgewood Management LLC lifted its holdings in MSCI by 16.9% in the 3rd quarter. Edgewood Management LLC now owns 2,195,639 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,279,904,000 after purchasing an additional 318,214 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 14.3% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,587,723 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $925,531,000 after buying an additional 198,666 shares in the last quarter. Canoe Financial LP boosted its position in MSCI by 700.4% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in MSCI by 358.3% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 133,636 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $77,900,000 after acquiring an additional 104,474 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Champlain Investment Partners LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI in the 3rd quarter valued at about $56,101,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now directly owns 330,379 shares in the company, valued at approximately $202,456,251.20. The trade was a 0.89 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MSCI has been the topic of several recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, October 11th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $649.23.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE:MSCI opened at $596.83 on Monday. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $439.95 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $607.14 and a 200 day moving average price of $582.76. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 42.45, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 negative return on equity of 168.58% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.68 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.91 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, February 28th. Shareholders of record on Friday, February 14th will be given a $1.80 dividend. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.21%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s payout ratio is currently 45.52%.

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.