R Squared Ltd Makes New $372,000 Investment in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 620 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $372,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Perigon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Perigon Wealth Management LLC now owns 575 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 20 shares during the period. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA increased its position in shares of MSCI by 5.9% in the 4th quarter. Baldwin Wealth Partners LLC MA now owns 10,476 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $6,286,000 after buying an additional 579 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in MSCI by 66.6% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 9,732 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $5,839,000 after buying an additional 3,890 shares during the period. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in MSCI by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 12,471 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $7,483,000 after acquiring an additional 263 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,955,000. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI opened at $628.77 on Wednesday. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $605.92 and a 200 day simple moving average of $580.53. MSCI Inc. has a 1 year low of $439.95 and a 1 year high of $642.45. The company has a market capitalization of $49.28 billion, a PE ratio of 41.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.11.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, January 29th. The technology company reported $4.18 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.96 by $0.22. MSCI had a net margin of 43.06% and a negative return on equity of 162.06%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.68 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 14.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSCI. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of MSCI from $680.00 to $700.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, January 21st. Wolfe Research upgraded shares of MSCI from a “peer perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of MSCI from $695.00 to $680.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on MSCI from $570.00 to $600.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, October 11th. Four equities research 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 an average price target of $649.85.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $612.80 per share, with a total value 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 $202,456,251.20. This trade represents a 0.89 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

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.