MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Acquired by American Century Companies Inc.

Key Points

• American Century Companies Inc. increased its stock holdings in MSCI Inc by 2.0% during the first quarter, bringing its total ownership to approximately 1.30% with a value of $570.46 million.
• Multiple analysts have recently upgraded MSCI's stock ratings, with UBS Group raising the price target from $655.00 to $700.00 and maintaining a "buy" rating.
• MSCI's board has declared a quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share, with a dividend yield of 1.3%, to be paid on August 29th.

American Century Companies Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 2.0% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,008,778 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 19,846 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 1.30% of MSCI worth $570,464,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of MSCI. Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at about $263,000. Mariner LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 19,824 shares of the technology company's stock worth $11,894,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares in the last quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 9.5% during the fourth quarter. Guggenheim Capital LLC now owns 1,861 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,117,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 11,850 shares of the technology company's stock worth $7,110,000 after purchasing an additional 591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 42.5% during the fourth quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 86,288 shares of the technology company's stock worth $51,774,000 after purchasing an additional 25,741 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSCI. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group increased their price target 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. Oppenheimer reiterated a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on shares of MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $654.73.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 9,916 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $544.70 per share, for a total transaction of $5,401,245.20. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,867 shares in the company, valued at $697,143,554.90. This trade represents a 0.78% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599. Insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock traded up $12.1120 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $567.7820. The company's stock had a trading volume of 603,266 shares, compared to its average volume of 606,264. MSCI Inc has a fifty-two week low of $486.73 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $561.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $560.49. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.92 billion, a PE ratio of 37.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 1.29.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. MSCI's payout ratio is 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.