MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Acquired by Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc.

Key Points

• Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in MSCI Inc by 20.7%, owning shares valued at $1.53 million after purchasing additional shares in the first quarter.
• CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 9,916 shares of MSCI stock for approximately $5.4 million, increasing his ownership to a total of 1.28 million shares.
• MSCI has recently announced a quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share, reflecting a 1.3% yield and a payout ratio of 47.68%.

Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 20.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,710 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 465 shares during the quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in MSCI were worth $1,533,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in MSCI by 5.9% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,376,852 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $5,302,610,000 after purchasing an additional 518,833 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in MSCI by 61,179.6% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 505,557 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $285,892,000 after purchasing an additional 504,732 shares during the period. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in MSCI by 3,881.3% in the fourth quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 419,429 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $251,662,000 after purchasing an additional 408,894 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich raised its position in MSCI by 605,802.9% in the first quarter. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich now owns 212,066 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $129,903,000 after purchasing an additional 212,031 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI in the first quarter valued at $117,879,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 9,916 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 24th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $544.70 per share, with a total value of $5,401,245.20. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,867 shares of the company's stock, valued at $697,143,554.90. This trade represents a 0.78% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599. Insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, July 21st. Raymond James Financial raised MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $654.73.

MSCI Trading Up 1.1%

MSCI traded up $6.3540 on Friday, hitting $573.6240. 380,090 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 803,549. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $44.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.29. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $563.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $560.30.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%.The firm had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $763.06 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.64 EPS. MSCI's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Investors 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 yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 15th. MSCI's payout ratio is presently 47.68%.

About MSCI

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.