Toronto Dominion Bank Acquires 2,955 Shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI)

Toronto Dominion Bank raised its stake in shares of MSCI Inc. (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 7.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 42,188 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 2,955 shares during the period. Toronto Dominion Bank owned 0.05% of MSCI worth $25,313,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of MSCI by 4.5% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 536,211 shares of the technology company's stock worth $312,574,000 after purchasing an additional 23,050 shares during the period. Nvwm LLC increased its position in MSCI by 3,581.3% in the 4th quarter. Nvwm LLC now owns 1,767 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,060,000 after buying an additional 1,719 shares during the period. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund increased its position in MSCI by 43.4% in the 4th quarter. United Super Pty Ltd in its capacity as Trustee for the Construction & Building Unions Superannuation Fund now owns 78,111 shares of the technology company's stock worth $46,867,000 after buying an additional 23,649 shares during the period. Rathbones Group PLC lifted its holdings in shares of MSCI by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Rathbones Group PLC now owns 59,741 shares of the technology company's stock worth $35,845,000 after buying an additional 2,123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fiera Capital Corp boosted its position in shares of MSCI by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Fiera Capital Corp now owns 1,148,615 shares of the technology company's stock valued at $689,180,000 after acquiring an additional 49,679 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.97% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on MSCI. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of MSCI in a research report on Thursday, April 10th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $585.00 target price on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and set a $675.00 price objective on shares of MSCI in a report on Wednesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of MSCI from $532.00 to $530.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on MSCI from $680.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 16th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on MSCI from $675.00 to $650.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, April 4th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $645.36.

Insider Activity

In related news, COO Cd Baer Pettit sold 5,000 shares of MSCI stock in a transaction dated Friday, April 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $524.25, for a total value of $2,621,250.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer now directly owns 294,787 shares of the company's stock, valued at $154,542,084.75. The trade was a 1.67% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 3.31% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

MSCI Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE:MSCI traded down $2.43 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $563.57. The company's stock had a trading volume of 631,004 shares, compared to its average volume of 513,921. The company has a market capitalization of $43.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 40.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 1.33. MSCI Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $475.32 and a fifty-two week high of $642.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $550.88 and a 200-day moving average of $578.04.

MSCI (NYSE:MSCI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, April 22nd. The technology company reported $4.00 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.88 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $745.83 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $746.45 million. MSCI had a negative return on equity of 156.08% and a net margin of 38.83%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that MSCI Inc. will post 16.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, May 30th. Shareholders of record on Friday, May 16th will be paid a dividend of $1.80 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 16th. This represents a $7.20 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.28%. MSCI's dividend payout ratio is currently 49.48%.

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.