UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC Purchases 21,967 Shares of MSCI Inc $MSCI

Key Points

• UBS Asset Management increased its position in MSCI Inc by 4.6%, acquiring an additional 21,967 shares during the first quarter, bringing its total ownership to 499,001 shares valued at approximately $282.2 million.
• Insider transactions include CEO Henry A. Fernandez purchasing 84 shares at an average price of $548.69 per share, increasing his total holdings to nearly 1.28 million shares valued at over $702 million.
• MSCI recently reported earnings of $4.17 per share, exceeding analysts' expectations, with revenue growing by 9.1% year-over-year to $772.68 million.

UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report) by 4.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 499,001 shares of the technology company's stock after buying an additional 21,967 shares during the quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC owned 0.64% of MSCI worth $282,185,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Optimize Financial Inc grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 11.6% during the first quarter. Optimize Financial Inc now owns 665 shares of the technology company's stock worth $376,000 after buying an additional 69 shares in the last quarter. Woodline Partners LP grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 39.0% during the first quarter. Woodline Partners LP now owns 6,585 shares of the technology company's stock worth $3,724,000 after buying an additional 1,846 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of MSCI by 7.6% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,003 shares of the technology company's stock worth $1,133,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the first quarter worth about $307,000. Finally, Ascent Group LLC bought a new position in shares of MSCI during the first quarter worth about $288,000. 89.97% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other MSCI news, CEO Henry A. Fernandez acquired 84 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 25th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $548.69 per share, with a total value 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 approximately $702,296,314.19. This represents a 0.01% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders purchased 12,400 shares of company stock valued at $6,731,599 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 3.31% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MSCI has been the subject of a number of research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on MSCI from $625.00 to $655.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Raymond James Financial upgraded MSCI from a "market perform" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $650.00 price objective on the stock in a research note on Friday, July 25th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of MSCI from $578.00 to $533.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, July 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of MSCI from $655.00 to $700.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 8th. 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 currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $652.45.

MSCI Stock Down 1.1%

MSCI opened at $562.73 on Thursday. MSCI Inc has a 12-month low of $486.73 and a 12-month high of $642.45. The stock has a market cap of $43.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 37.27, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 1.34. The business has a 50 day moving average of $563.98 and a 200-day moving average of $559.37.

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

MSCI Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 29th. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 15th were given a $1.80 dividend. This represents a $7.20 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 1.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 15th. MSCI's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding MSCI? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for MSCI Inc (NYSE:MSCI - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.