916 Shares in MSCI Inc $MSCI Bought by Quantitative Investment Management LLC

Key Points

• Quantitative Investment Management LLC made a new investment in MSCI Inc, acquiring 916 shares valued at approximately $517,000.
• JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its price target for MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00, while Wells Fargo decreased its target from $578.00 to $533.00.
• MSCI Inc reported earnings of $4.17 per share for the quarter, exceeding analysts' estimates, with a net margin of 39.46% and a revenue increase of 9.1% year-over-year.

Quantitative Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 916 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $517,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Menard Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Olde Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of MSCI during the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 30 shares during the period. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. lifted 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 acquiring an additional 22 shares during the period. Finally, Johnson Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 293.8% during the 4th quarter. Johnson Financial Group Inc. now owns 63 shares of the technology company's stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on MSCI. Raymond James Financial upgraded shares of MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 23rd. 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 research report on Tuesday, July 8th. 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 research report on Monday, July 21st. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, MSCI presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $654.73.

Insider Buying and Selling at MSCI

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

MSCI Stock Down 0.2%

NYSE MSCI traded down $0.98 on Friday, hitting $567.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 498,985 shares, compared to its average volume of 589,100. MSCI Inc has a 1-year low of $486.73 and a 1-year high of $642.45. The company's 50-day moving average is $565.89 and its 200 day moving average is $559.90. The firm has a market cap of $43.91 billion, a PE ratio of 37.59, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.34.

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

MSCI Announces Dividend

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

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.