Abacus FCF Advisors LLC Makes New $3.63 Million Investment in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Abacus FCF Advisors LLC has acquired a new position in MSCI Inc, purchasing 6,289 shares valued at approximately $3.6 million during the second quarter.
• MSCI has received positive analyst ratings, with Raymond James and JPMorgan both raising their price targets, now aiming for as high as $700.00 per share.
• The company recently declared a quarterly dividend of $1.80, translating to an annual yield of 1.3%, with a payout ratio of 47.68%.

Abacus FCF Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 6,289 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $3,627,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Woodline Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,843,000. Waverly Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at about $203,000. Vise Technologies Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at about $377,000. Toronto Dominion Bank lifted its stake in shares of MSCI by 7.5% in the fourth quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank now owns 42,188 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $25,313,000 after purchasing an additional 2,955 shares during the period. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at about $7,200,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently commented on MSCI. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 target price for the company in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $652.45.

MSCI Price Performance

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $0.60 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $567.46. The stock had a trading volume of 314,309 shares, compared to its average volume of 619,572. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $562.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $558.88. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.90 billion, a PE ratio of 37.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 1.34. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $642.45.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 47.68%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 9,916 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $544.70 per share, with a total value of $5,401,245.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,867 shares in the company, valued at $697,143,554.90. The trade was a 0.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders have purchased a total of 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599 over the last 90 days. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.