United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund Increases Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund grew its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) by 43.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 78,111 shares of the technology company’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,649 shares during the quarter. MSCI makes up approximately 1.8% of United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund’s holdings in MSCI were worth $46,867,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in MSCI. State Street Corp increased its position in MSCI by 0.4% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,192,364 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,860,925,000 after buying an additional 11,351 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in MSCI by 0.7% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,862,362 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,082,594,000 after acquiring an additional 13,691 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in MSCI by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,613,005 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $967,820,000 after purchasing an additional 119,471 shares in the last quarter. Fiera Capital Corp boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $689,180,000 after purchasing an additional 49,679 shares during the period. Finally, PineStone Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 17.4% in the fourth quarter. PineStone Asset Management Inc. now owns 569,374 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $341,630,000 after purchasing an additional 84,354 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 5,300 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 24th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $574.51 per share, for a total transaction of $3,044,903.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the chief executive officer now owns 1,269,951 shares in the company, valued at $729,599,549.01. This represents a 0.42 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI stock opened at $575.38 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $581.43 and a 200 day moving average price of $588.84. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.92, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.19.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current 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 paid a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.25%. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 14th. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.21%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently weighed in on MSCI. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and raised their price target for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $675.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $649.23.

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.