Invesco Ltd. Purchases 71,001 Shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI)

Key Points

• Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in MSCI Inc by 14.8%, owning 550,324 shares after acquiring 71,001 additional shares, valued at approximately $311 million.
• MSCI Inc reported better-than-expected earnings with a Q2 EPS of $4.17 and revenue of $772.68 million, surpassing analyst estimates.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share, representing a 1.3% dividend yield, and will be paid on August 29th to stockholders of record by August 15th.

Invesco Ltd. boosted its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 14.8% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 550,324 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 71,001 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. owned approximately 0.71% of MSCI worth $311,208,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Menard Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in MSCI during the first quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 136.4% during the first 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 in the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 50.0% during the first quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 66 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in MSCI by 293.8% during the fourth quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 47 shares in the last quarter. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

MSCI Stock Performance

NYSE MSCI opened at $550.08 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $562.40 and a 200-day moving average of $562.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.29 and a beta of 1.29. 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 earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $763.06 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.64 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Oppenheimer reaffirmed a "market perform" rating on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Raymond James Financial raised MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Friday, July 25th. UBS Group boosted their target price on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. Evercore ISI dropped their price target on MSCI from $673.00 to $631.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $654.73.

Insider Activity at MSCI

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 84 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $548.69 per share, with a total value of $46,089.96. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $702,296,314.19. This represents a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599. 3.31% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.

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