Ieq Capital LLC Has $20.19 Million Holdings in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Ieq Capital LLC has increased its stake in MSCI Inc by 190% during the first quarter, with a total holding now valued at approximately $20.19 million.
• MSCI recently reported earnings of $4.17 per share for the quarter, surpassing analyst expectations, and showed a 9.1% year-over-year revenue growth to $772.68 million.
• The company announces a quarterly dividend of $1.80, with a yield of 1.3%, payable on August 29th, reflecting a payout ratio of 47.68%.

Ieq Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 190.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,693 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 23,385 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC's holdings in MSCI were worth $20,185,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 5.9% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 9,376,852 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,302,610,000 after purchasing an additional 518,833 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 0.9% during the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,626,923 shares of the technology company's stock worth $920,026,000 after buying an additional 13,918 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2.0% during the 1st quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 1,008,778 shares of the technology company's stock worth $570,464,000 after buying an additional 19,846 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 2.6% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 804,640 shares of the technology company's stock worth $455,024,000 after buying an additional 20,150 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 8.4% during the 1st quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 615,770 shares of the technology company's stock worth $348,218,000 after buying an additional 47,936 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a 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 price objective for the company in a report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Monday, July 21st. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $654.73.

MSCI Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:MSCI traded down $0.98 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $567.57. 498,985 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 616,803. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $565.89 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $559.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.91 billion, a PE ratio of 37.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.29. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month 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 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.12 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 period last year, the firm earned $3.64 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 84 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $548.69 per share, for a total transaction of $46,089.96. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $702,296,314.19. This trade represents a 0.01% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders have bought 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

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.