Baskin Financial Services Inc. Raises Holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Baskin Financial Services Inc. grew its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 73,258 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 626 shares during the quarter. MSCI comprises 3.4% of Baskin Financial Services Inc.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 17th biggest holding. Baskin Financial Services Inc. owned 0.09% of MSCI worth $41,427,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,897,456 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,136,563,000 after acquiring an additional 35,094 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $609,937,000. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of MSCI by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 853,452 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $512,079,000 after purchasing an additional 25,325 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 6.6% during 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Bessemer Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 0.6% during the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 590,892 shares of the technology company's stock worth $334,149,000 after purchasing an additional 3,335 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have weighed in on MSCI shares. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price target on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their target price on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 16th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Finally, Oppenheimer reissued a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $645.36.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief operating officer directly owned 289,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $160,133,398.33. This represents a 1.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 3.31% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

MSCI Stock Up 0.3%

MSCI stock opened at $583.24 on Thursday. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.74 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $45.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 40.09, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 1.32. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $559.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $570.50.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.88 by $0.12. MSCI had a net margin of 39.08% and a negative return on equity of 145.52%. The business had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $746.45 million. On average, equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th were given a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.23%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 16th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is 49.48%.

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.

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