Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Acquires 11,877 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in MSCI Inc. by 3.2%, acquiring an additional 11,877 shares, bringing its total ownership to 388,501 shares valued at approximately $219.7 million.
• Analysts have mixed views on MSCI, with target prices ranging from $533 to $700 and a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy".
• MSCI's recent quarterly earnings exceeded expectations, reporting $4.17 earnings per share and a revenue of $772.68 million, with a year-over-year revenue growth of 9.1%.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 3.2% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 388,501 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 11,877 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. owned 0.50% of MSCI worth $219,697,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in MSCI during the first quarter valued at $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 136.4% in the first quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 52 shares of the technology company's stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 30 shares in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 50.0% in the first 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Banque Transatlantique SA grew its stake in shares of MSCI by 355.6% in the first quarter. Banque Transatlantique SA now owns 82 shares of the technology company's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 64 shares during the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Raymond James Financial raised shares of MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 target price for the company in a report on Friday, July 25th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, 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 report on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $652.45.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI opened at $562.73 on Thursday. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $563.98 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $559.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $43.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 37.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 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 data 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 analysts' expectations of $763.06 million. MSCI had a net margin of 39.46% and a negative return on equity of 143.13%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.64 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 9,916 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, July 24th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $544.70 per share, for a total transaction of $5,401,245.20. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,867 shares in the company, valued at approximately $697,143,554.90. This represents a 0.78% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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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