MSCI Inc $MSCI Shares Acquired by Vontobel Holding Ltd.

Vontobel Holding Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 127.9% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 107,564 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 60,360 shares during the quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. owned approximately 0.14% of MSCI worth $62,036,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Olde Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in MSCI in the 1st quarter valued at $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 136.4% during 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 period. Steph & Co. purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 2nd quarter worth $35,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 50.0% during 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 period. Finally, HWG Holdings LP purchased a new position in shares of MSCI during the 1st quarter worth $44,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 9,916 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 24th. The shares were bought 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 owned 1,279,867 shares of the company's stock, valued at $697,143,554.90. This trade represents a 0.78% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 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 brokerages recently commented on MSCI. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 23rd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b-)" rating on shares of MSCI in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group lifted their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. Raymond James Financial upgraded MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Finally, Seaport Res Ptn raised MSCI to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, ten have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $649.70.

MSCI Stock Down 0.4%

MSCI opened at $566.95 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $43.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.33. MSCI Inc has a 52 week low of $486.73 and a 52 week high of $642.45. The business's 50 day moving average is $564.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $559.55.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 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 analyst estimates of $763.06 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%.The firm's revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.64 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

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 $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 47.68%.

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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