BNP Paribas Financial Markets Buys 9,265 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its stake in MSCI Inc by 5.4%, holding approximately $101.83 million in shares by the end of the first quarter.
• CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased nearly 10,000 shares of MSCI on July 24, increasing his ownership in the company to a value of $697 million.
• Analysts have recently updated their price targets for MSCI, with UBS raising its target from $655 to $700, reflecting a consensus rating of Moderate Buy among ten analysts.

BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 5.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 180,063 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 9,265 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets owned 0.23% of MSCI worth $101,826,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Menard Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MSCI in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 136.4% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 52 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its position in MSCI by 50.0% during the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 66 shares of the technology company's stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC grew its position in MSCI by 122.6% during the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 69 shares of the technology company's stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms recently issued reports on MSCI. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. UBS Group lifted their price target on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target 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. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised 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 report on Friday, July 25th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $654.73.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 9,916 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,867 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $697,143,554.90. This represents a 0.78% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Over the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI stock traded down $2.96 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $550.95. 441,437 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 600,705. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $565.70 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $559.82. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.62 billion, a PE ratio of 36.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.34. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $486.73 and a 52 week high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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 firm had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.06 million. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.64 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a $1.80 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.68%.

MSCI 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.