Applied Finance Capital Management LLC Takes Position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Key Points

• Applied Finance Capital Management LLC purchased 1,075 shares of MSCI Inc, valued at approximately $608,000, signaling institutional interest in the company.
• MSCI's quarterly earnings beat consensus estimates with earnings per share of $4.17 and revenue of $772.68 million, reflecting a 9.1% year-over-year revenue growth.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share, representing an annual yield of 1.32%, with a payout ratio currently at 47.68%.

Applied Finance Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 1,075 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $608,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in MSCI by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,456 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,136,563,000 after purchasing an additional 35,094 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in MSCI by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,626,923 shares of the technology company's stock worth $920,026,000 after acquiring an additional 13,918 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in MSCI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $609,937,000. FMR LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 853,452 shares of the technology company's stock worth $512,079,000 after acquiring an additional 25,325 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 6.6% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 784,490 shares of the technology company's stock worth $470,702,000 after purchasing an additional 48,524 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 84 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $548.69 per share, with a total value of $46,089.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $702,296,314.19. This represents a 0.01% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, May 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $552.59, for a total value of $2,762,950.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 289,787 shares in the company, valued at $160,133,398.33. This trade represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders bought 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Royal Bank Of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Evercore ISI reduced their target price on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on MSCI in a research note on Thursday, April 10th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 target price on the stock. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $654.73.

MSCI Stock Up 0.7%

MSCI stock traded up $3.82 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $561.03. The company had a trading volume of 286,579 shares, compared to its average volume of 590,172. The firm has a market cap of $43.40 billion, a PE ratio of 37.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 1.32. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $486.73 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $563.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $565.67.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $772.68 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $763.06 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.64 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be given a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.28%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 47.68%.

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.