Quarry LP Acquires 489 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Quarry LP significantly increased its stake in MSCI Inc by 109.6%, acquiring an additional 489 shares, bringing their total holding to 935 shares valued at approximately $529,000.
• Several large investors, including Vanguard Group and Bank Julius Baer & Co., have also substantially increased their stakes in MSCI, reflecting strong institutional interest with 89.97% of the company’s stock owned by institutional investors.
• Recent analyst reports have been positive for MSCI, with upgraded price targets from UBS, Raymond James, and JPMorgan, while the average consensus rating remains a "Moderate Buy" with a target price of $654.73.

Quarry LP raised its holdings in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 109.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 935 shares of the technology company's stock after acquiring an additional 489 shares during the period. Quarry LP's holdings in MSCI were worth $529,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in MSCI. Lido Advisors LLC grew its stake in MSCI by 22.3% in the fourth quarter. Lido Advisors LLC now owns 1,157 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $694,000 after acquiring an additional 211 shares during the period. Freestone Grove Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $825,000. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 144.1% during the fourth quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 23,926 shares of the technology company's stock worth $14,356,000 after buying an additional 14,126 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 23.9% during the fourth quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 3,743 shares of the technology company's stock worth $2,246,000 after buying an additional 722 shares during the period. Finally, Aptus Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of MSCI during the fourth quarter worth about $338,000. 89.97% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MSCI Stock Performance

MSCI traded down $3.26 on Wednesday, hitting $550.65. 898,650 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 545,931. MSCI Inc has a 12 month low of $486.73 and a 12 month high of $642.45. The company has a market cap of $42.60 billion, a PE ratio of 36.47, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 1.34. The stock's fifty day moving average is $565.32 and its 200-day moving average is $559.76.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released 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. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 143.13% and a net margin of 39.46%.The business had revenue of $772.68 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $763.06 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $3.64 earnings per share. MSCI's revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research 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. Investors of record on Friday, August 15th were issued a dividend of $1.80 per share. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, August 15th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is presently 47.68%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MSCI. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective 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. UBS Group upped their price objective on MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on MSCI from $650.00 to $680.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, July 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial raised 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. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MSCI has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $654.73.

Insider Transactions at MSCI

In related news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez bought 84 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 25th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $548.69 per share, for a total transaction of $46,089.96. Following the completion of the acquisition, the chief executive officer owned 1,279,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $702,296,314.19. The trade was a 0.01% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders bought a total of 12,400 shares of company stock worth $6,731,599 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

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.