Strs Ohio Makes New $42.87 Million Investment in MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• Strs Ohio has acquired a new stake in MSCI Inc, purchasing 75,800 shares valued at approximately $42.87 million, representing about 0.10% of the company's stock.
• Recent analyst reports have adjusted price targets for MSCI, with UBS raising its target from $655.00 to $700.00 and JPMorgan increasing theirs from $625.00 to $655.00, highlighting a strong outlook.
• MSCI declared a quarterly dividend of $1.80 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 1.2% and a payout ratio of 47.68%.

Strs Ohio bought a new position in MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 75,800 shares of the technology company's stock, valued at approximately $42,865,000. Strs Ohio owned approximately 0.10% of MSCI at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of MSCI by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. Balyasny Asset Management L.P. now owns 1,478 shares of the technology company's stock worth $887,000 after acquiring an additional 127 shares in the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC increased its stake in MSCI by 12.3% in the 4th quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 12,030 shares of the technology company's stock worth $7,217,000 after purchasing an additional 1,319 shares in the last quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. raised its holdings in MSCI by 25.8% during the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 10,322 shares of the technology company's stock worth $6,193,000 after buying an additional 2,115 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its stake in MSCI by 20.2% during the fourth quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 3,302 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $1,981,000 after buying an additional 556 shares in the last quarter. Finally, NorthRock Partners LLC purchased a new stake in MSCI during the fourth quarter valued at about $556,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

MSCI Stock Up 2.3%

Shares of MSCI stock traded up $13.28 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $580.30. 273,632 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 607,573. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $563.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $559.11. The firm has a market capitalization of $44.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 38.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 1.34. MSCI Inc has a twelve month low of $486.73 and a twelve month high of $642.45.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, July 22nd. The technology company reported $4.17 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $4.12 by $0.05. The firm 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%.The company's revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.64 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that MSCI Inc will post 16.86 EPS for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Announces Dividend

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 1.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. MSCI's payout ratio is presently 47.68%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 8th. 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 research note on Friday, July 25th. 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 10th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $652.45.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchased 84 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 acquisition, the chief executive officer directly owned 1,279,951 shares of the company's stock, valued at $702,296,314.19. The trade was a 0.01% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders bought 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599 in the last ninety days. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.