SBI Securities Co. Ltd. Purchases Shares of 1,445 MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

SBI Securities Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,445 shares of the technology company’s stock, valued at approximately $867,000.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. LRI Investments LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 120.0% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 44 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 24 shares during the last quarter. True Wealth Design LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the third quarter worth approximately $38,000. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI in the third quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Compagnie Lombard Odier SCmA bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth approximately $41,000. Finally, Planning Capital Management Corp lifted its holdings in MSCI by 35.1% during the 3rd quarter. Planning Capital Management Corp now owns 77 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 20 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on MSCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on MSCI from $700.00 to $680.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 30th. 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 research report on Thursday, January 30th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised shares of MSCI from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $617.00 to $723.00 in a report on Wednesday, December 18th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $675.00 target price on shares of MSCI in a report on Thursday, January 30th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on MSCI from $662.00 to $695.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Three 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 stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $649.23.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 2,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $612.80 per share, for a total transaction of $1,777,120.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 330,379 shares of the company’s stock, 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 legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 3.20% of the company’s stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of MSCI opened at $587.87 on Tuesday. MSCI Inc. has a 52-week low of $439.95 and a 52-week high of $642.45. The firm has a market cap of $45.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 41.81, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.11. The business’s fifty day moving average is $593.39 and its 200-day moving average is $590.05.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI) last issued its 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 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $3.68 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, February 28th. Investors of record on Friday, February 14th were paid a $1.80 dividend. This is an increase from MSCI’s previous quarterly dividend of $1.60. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 14th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.22%. MSCI’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.21%.

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.