GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. Purchases 600 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. increased its stake in MSCI Inc. by 0.5% during the first quarter, now holding 117,211 shares valued at approximately $66.3 million.
• Several institutional investors significantly boosted their holdings in MSCI, with Vanguard Group increasing its position by 5.9% to own over $5.3 billion worth of shares.
• MSCI Inc. reported earnings of $4.17 per share for the last quarter, exceeding analyst expectations, with a quarterly revenue increase of 9.1% year-over-year.

GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 0.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 117,211 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 600 shares during the period. MSCI comprises 7.7% of GFI Investment Counsel Ltd.'s investment portfolio, making the stock its 6th largest position. GFI Investment Counsel Ltd. owned 0.15% of MSCI worth $66,283,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in MSCI by 5.9% during 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 buying an additional 518,833 shares in the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in MSCI by 0.9% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,626,923 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $920,026,000 after buying an additional 13,918 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in MSCI by 2.0% during the first quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,008,778 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $570,464,000 after buying an additional 19,846 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 2.6% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 804,640 shares of the technology company's stock worth $455,024,000 after purchasing an additional 20,150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of MSCI by 8.4% during the first quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 615,770 shares of the technology company's stock worth $348,218,000 after purchasing an additional 47,936 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Up 1.1%

MSCI stock traded up $6.3540 during trading on Friday, hitting $573.6240. 380,090 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 803,549. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $486.73 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $563.35 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $560.30. The stock has a market capitalization 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.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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. 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.64 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, August 29th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 15th will be issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 15th. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.3%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.68%.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 84 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $548.69 per share, for a total transaction of $46,089.96. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $702,296,314.19. The trade was a 0.01% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on MSCI. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $654.73.

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.