Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Holdings in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC increased its stake in MSCI Inc by 4.5%, acquiring 8,078 additional shares, bringing its total holdings to 188,234 shares valued at approximately $106.4 million.
• CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 9,916 shares at an average cost of $544.70 per share, increasing his ownership in MSCI to nearly $697 million.
• MSCI recently reported $4.17 earnings per share, exceeding analysts' estimates, and announced a quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 1.3%.

Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 4.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 188,234 shares of the technology company's stock after purchasing an additional 8,078 shares during the period. Kayne Anderson Rudnick Investment Management LLC owned 0.24% of MSCI worth $106,447,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. First Trust Advisors LP lifted its holdings in MSCI by 5,053.6% during the 4th quarter. First Trust Advisors LP now owns 30,406 shares of the technology company's stock worth $18,244,000 after purchasing an additional 29,816 shares in the last quarter. MML Investors Services LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI by 1.2% during the fourth quarter. MML Investors Services LLC now owns 6,215 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $3,729,000 after buying an additional 75 shares during the period. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 49.4% in the fourth quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 8,425 shares of the technology company's stock worth $5,056,000 after buying an additional 2,787 shares in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 79.3% in the fourth quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,245 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,347,000 after buying an additional 993 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 5.3% in the fourth quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 1,663 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $998,000 after acquiring an additional 83 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Price Performance

MSCI stock traded down $0.96 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $569.20. The company had a trading volume of 521,497 shares, compared to its average volume of 600,986. The firm has a market cap of $44.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 1.29. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $564.92 and a 200 day moving average price of $560.24. 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 posted its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $4.12 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $772.68 million for 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%.MSCI's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.64 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

Insider Activity at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 84 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The shares were purchased at an average price 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 trade represents a 0.01% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Over the last three months, insiders have bought 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on MSCI. 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 report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. 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. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Ten investment 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, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average 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.