Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. Acquires New Position in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Landscape Capital Management has acquired a new stake in MSCI Inc, purchasing 524 shares valued at approximately $296,000, marking the firm's entry into ownership of the tech company.
• Several hedge funds, including Lido Advisors LLC and Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec, have significantly increased their holdings in MSCI, indicating strong investor interest in the stock.
• MSCI's CEO, Henry A. Fernandez, recently bought 9,916 shares, increasing his position in the company, while MSCI declared a quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share, representing a 1.3% dividend yield.

Landscape Capital Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 524 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $296,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Menard Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI in the 1st quarter worth about $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 136.4% in the 1st quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. now owns 52 shares of the technology company's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 30 shares during the last quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. raised its position in shares of MSCI by 50.0% in the 1st quarter. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. now owns 66 shares of the technology company's stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 22 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Colonial Trust Co SC raised its position in shares of MSCI by 122.6% in the 4th quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC now owns 69 shares of the technology company's stock worth $42,000 after purchasing an additional 38 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on MSCI shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Raymond James Financial raised MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 target price for the company in a research 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 research report on Tuesday, July 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price 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. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $654.73.

MSCI Stock Down 0.6%

Shares of MSCI stock traded down $3.26 during trading hours on Wednesday, reaching $550.65. 898,650 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 545,931. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $565.32 and a 200 day moving average price of $559.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $42.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 36.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.34. MSCI Inc has a one year low of $486.73 and a one year high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $4.12 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $772.68 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $763.06 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%.The business's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.64 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared 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. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. MSCI's payout ratio is currently 47.68%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 84 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, July 25th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $548.69 per share, for a total transaction of $46,089.96. Following the purchase, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,951 shares in the company, 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599. 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.